Finding Fire
by MABalas
Summary: HIATUS ** A relic of the past, Riyo's second chance has already come and gone; she's ready for her execution. Then fate gives her a reason to keep living. In typical style, Luffy doesn't realize exactly who and what he's freed-or what it means to be under a sea queen's protection. Slight AU; Worldbuilding; SlowBurn; Law/OFC; Marco/Ace; Sanji/Zoro...More. I ship all the things.
1. Prologue

_Chapter 00 - Prologue_

 _Edited: 11/8/2017_

 _Original: 4/5/2016_

* * *

 _AN: Ok, I know I promised the Fall of 2017 for the next update but I'm essentially rewriting this whole fic from the start. December 1st (ish) 2017 is pretty damn close (meaning not close at all...I'm so sorry!). Blame major life upheaval and a damn near month long head cold. Big deviations start about a quarter of the way through this new rendition. Hopefully you enjoy the new and improved Riyo!_

 ** _ONE TIME BLANKET FIC WARNINGS_**

 _ ****There are potential triggers in this fic for thoughts of suicide, various psychiatric conditions including dissociative disorder, depression, and self harm, heterosexual relationships, gay relationships, asexual characters (my Luffy will always be asexual), general angst, canon divergence, abrupt pirate marriage, violence and gore, explicit language and likely pretty explicit hanky panky of all flavors and varieties, and whatever the hell else happens as I come up with it.****_

* * *

Today...today was a terrible day. Being scheduled for execution could do that, with the whole dying thing and all.

It would be a worse than terrible day if she hadn't already been dying before they locked her up; but that dying was slow going and she probably would have had a few more months in her even after starving herself.

Well, if the marines hadn't starved her on top of her starving herself and she hadn't been slowly losing her shit on top of the multiple personalities having a civil war in her head.

[You have been much more manic than usual. The blackouts have been fun.]

 _Yeah, thanks for the reminder_ , she told the beast. At least she had managed to lock down the Other in her mind. The blackouts were more frequent, though, the beast was right about that. The mental wall holding back the Other wouldn't hold much longer.

{Holding, hold, held, barricade, delay, belay, begrudge, _betray_ …}

The hissed words cut at her mind through the Other's clawing at that same mental wall.

 _Shut up_ , she snapped back internally.

They were starving. Her brain couldn't think of any better comeback without food.

[ _Sooooo_ hungry. Feed them, feeeeed thhhheeeemmmm.]

"And that is why we're starving and locked in a cell," she hissed out and then coughed painfully at the strain on her dry throat. "Your whining."

Mouth was dry. Thirsty.

[Caged them. Locked them from the sea. Want to go home.]

{ _Caged.}_

 _Scratchscritchscritchscritch._

The small whimper and frisson of _afraidhungrycoldlost_ was genuine. As much as the beast could be an asshole, and the Other even worse, they were all still her-them-us. The beast was the piece with the most basic needs and understandings. She shushed it, crooning to it in her mind to calm it.

She ignored the scratching from the Other. That part was _not_ basic or simple.

All in all, this was a series of bad to terrible. She supposed deciding who to blame-herself or the beast or the world or these marines or a mix of all of the above-wasn't of too much concern when the end result would be, "Dead."

The word was a broken whisper. Her life was a whisper. A whimper. There would be no going out with a bang.

She wanted to hear someone's voice besides the mocking of the marines before the end of her pitifully short life (by her species' records). She had lived through the impossible, and for what? They hadn't even come close to a _Sigma_. One would smell tasty, one would intrigue, but they were all wrong, wrong-wrong-wrong.

[Wrong, wrong, wrong. He's there. The Sigma is there. Find the Sigma that is more Sigma than any other Sigma has been Sigma. _Why won't you find him?_ ]

 _Scritchscritchtatscritchscratch._

 _Because we're a mess,_ she growled back. _You push and push but you don't tell me where or how and I'm too fucking broken to find him myself._ She sighed. _What could we offer him, anyway? We can't keep_ ourselves _functioning, let alone someone else. We have no_ pit _. We are a ghost in this age. How would we protect a_ Sigma _?_

Why wish for the sky when they had no wings. They could only crawl in the mud and watch their broken dream.

She shut out the beast's keening frustration, equivalent to shoving it in its room and closing the door. She ignored the muffled growling from it and moved out of her mind to take stock of her body.

Stiff. Cold. Hungry. Weak. Exactly the same as the last hour's check.

Riyo readjusted her back against the concrete wall of her cell where she had propped herself up. The damp cold bled into her bones until she only knew the bitter edges of the chill cutting surgical sharp into her skin. It dug a little deeper as her thoughts acknowledged it, mercilessly excising every memory of warmth she threw up in defense. It destroyed her from the outside in as surely as her body ate itself from the inside out.

It was all topsy-turvy with the ins and outs and shadows and tangles and haze inside their head. No food, no family, just the memories of the waves and the wind for years. All the memories to keep them company.

She was lonely. They were so lonely.

[Alone.]

 _Scritchscratchscritchtat._

All of them were being so alone together.

Ironic that the marines that held her had no idea they could keep their hands clean of her blood by leaving her in this cell with the cold for another half day. She wasn't strong enough anymore to fight the chill off, and it was an achilles heel that only a remaining handful of people in the world knew. She wouldn't provide the information to these men by begging for the sun one last time.

She would never beg again.

[A boiling pot of seawater to dump over their head. That sounded lovely right now.]

 _Shut up._

Memories of warmth were fleeting, faded shadows even before that asshat threw her in here. It was like she had been buried in ice for months...decades. So many years of wandering. The sea was her freedom, the tides were the breeze on her skin, but what was freedom when it came with that kind of cost?

 _Scratchtatscratchscritch._

The ocean could be a cold place when your entire purpose in life was gone. When your mind was splintered and broken and the jagged edges drew blood everywhere you turned.

Then they always _pushed_ at the wall, the voices mocked and laughed and beckoned and whined for attention and notice and time. She had all the time in the world and none at all.

The _darktwistedfuryhatefrenzy_ part did not scream. No, it scratched and scritched behind the wall, every minute of every hour that _scritchscritchtatscratch_ to be set free.

Her guard was always up because the wall couldn't fall, she couldn't let them out, and it hurt so much to hold them back and the scratching _never stopped_ -

She bit her arm viciously, canines extended to puncture through the reflexive armor of scales that flowed up. If an enemy couldn't surprise the scales, she had no hope to get the drop on them. Clever little bastards they were.

[Their scales. Part of them. Can't get rid of them-us-you.]

 _Scratchscratchscratch._

 _Shut. Up._

Only a sea queen could fight a sea queen on even ground. Sea queens were nature's tanks, pinnacles of destruction and defense. Anyone else would need a hefty dose of haki to amp them to a sea queen's level. And that was only for the chance to step onto the playing field.

Only her own teeth and claws could fight her scales now.

She hit the flesh underneath to taste her own blood.

She held it for seconds-minutes. She pulled back and licked her lips for the barest copper taste. She noted how sluggish the blood was to drift to the surface of the deep punctures.

Her arms were decorated with half healed wounds.

She kept getting caught in the memories and voices and the _scratchscratchscritchtatscratch_.

She let her mind drift to nothing but gray. The drifting was better than the cold outside and the crazy inside; it was far better than the memories.

So many years alone. The beast chuffed in response, finally listening to her request to keep its thoughts to itself.

The beast was unbridled instinct. It was restless and ruffled as much as it was listless and exhausted. The normally vivacious personality was a caricature of itself.

It was disorienting to her exhausted mind.

The beast was her devilish angel to lead her to all of the fun, to find her what escapes she had left and let her revel in what she could for the remainder of her horribly long life.

Her happy-time buddy couldn't be caving to the inevitable because then what was Riyo supposed to lean on?

How was she supposed to forget?

She couldn't dredge up enough _anything_ to poke at the thought.

10 days in a cell and it was the highlight of the last two decades of her life. That said a lot about her life, huh?

She let her mind drift from that line of thinking.

She tried to float in the gray but the cold kept cutting into the mediocrity. Cold was her own personal version of hell-the joy of being sort-of-kind-of cold-blooded and outside her natural habitat.

The dim lighting, the mold, and the stale air that was cloyingly thick in her sensitive nose and tasted faintly of rotten fish and wet dust didn't bother her as much as the incessant cold.

Cold concrete at her back, cold metal against her skin, cold bars holding her in, cold words an icy chill in her mind and ears.

Cold blood pumping sluggishly through cold hearts. Cold air being sucked into her lungs and misted back out.

Cold.

It had been cold since they took their _pit_ from them. So cold since they were shattered. Colder since they were left behind because the world was too stupid to understand, too arrogant to believe, too-

She ripped into her other arm with thick claws, extended barely enough to clear her fingertips.

Weak.

When the pain wasn't enough she smashed her wound-riddled arm into the thick chains wrapped around her legs.

She pressed the stinging cuts to the freezing metal.

She let out a nearly subvocal growl at the sudden prickle of deadened nerves.

Her enhanced senses were stuck on the feeling of icy skin and stiff joints even as they were dulled by the lack of food and warmth. The metal cage in front of her dimmed. Dancing black fuzz filled her vision for a few seconds as she fought to stay conscious.

She drifted through the gray half conscious.

She was brought back from the blankness by the sound of clomping boots. The guard was taking his rounds.

She didn't know how much time had passed.

She faded in and out and then a man in that hated uniform was standing in front of the cell. The sight of the marine insignia made her want to change and rage and rip this island and its marine base down to the bedrock.

The marine tapped the hilt of the sheathed sword at his hip against the metal bars.

[Foolish, blind blue-white snack,] the beast grumbled.

Yes, she could eat him. Not much of a meal but it would be better than none. But she had made that promise to herself to stop eating sentient species a few years back.

She watched and counted each _taptinktap_.

 _3_

She may have made an exception to the rule if she wasn't so weak.

But as always, instinct won over revenge.

Her canines receded. Her claws were sheathed. She was harmless and weak and helpless and broken. The ploy was as natural as sea and sand.

[Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.]

The beast chuff-purred-snorted in laughter at its own joke.

 _8_

"Did you bite yourself again? Scratch? Fucking pyscho. You should be happy we're putting you out of your misery, really. We won't bandage it."

She huffed a laugh to herself. The joke was kind of funny.

 _13_

"You're not even listening," the marine went on. "Well we both know what happened last time we went in there trying to help. That's why you have all your pretty iron jewelry now. And five men are in the infirmary. Jonson's arm won't ever heal right from that break, you know."

 _22_

The guard laughed himself. "Never liked Jonson anyway."

She stared a little over his left shoulder.

"Whole lot of crazy in that little package. Whole lotta crazy."

He walked on, tapping that sword handle on each metal bar as he passed.

 _Tinktaptink_ to go with the _scritchtatscratchtatscritch_ in her head.

 _24_

 _25_

 _26_

 _27_

 _28_

The whole world wanted to strip what sanity she tried to claw together. Death by a thousand murmurs and whispers and sounds.

She wanted to dig her fingers into her brain.

Rip out her eardrums.

Shove her head into quicksand.

Anything to make it stop.

She took a shallow, rattling breath in and let her mind drift again.

She was reaching her limit for how long she could go between meals.

Hunting for food herself had become too much of a chore months ago.

She had went to this island to grab a few bites from an unsuspecting street vendor. That's when she had the altercation that led to her incarceration.

[Heh, that kinda rhymed.]

Sharp teeth grinned at the air, extended again with the guard gone.

The marines wouldn't feed her after the second day. They tried to move her away from the door. They tried to move her which meant they tried to touch her.

No one touched her. Not unless they were _pit._

She drifted.

Her body was giving out against her will. Her system would go into _somnum_ whether she liked it or not. She doubted she'd wake up again once that happened. As human as she appeared there was no one around for hundreds or even thousands of miles who even knew she was a different species.

There was no one who would know she wasn't another animal when her body slipped into her smallest true form to conserve calories for healing.

She'd eat anything too stupid or too slow to run away, regardless of its size or sentience. The beast was first and foremost in that form and it was driven by pure instinct. It would be a shit show if she lived long enough to make it into the healing sleep.

Her mind seized up on the last thought. How long since there was family who would make sure her beast didn't eat some poor idiot? Or would protect her in her weakened state?

The beast could still do a lot of damage if it had to in _somnum_ , but she was at her weakest in the sleep. Completely reliant on someone else to survive.

She drifted away from the spiraling thoughts.

She wasn't suicidal, not really. She liked living; living was nice.

Living without purpose was not nice. Living without a purpose was hard and it required energy and thought and planning and she didn't know if she could do that anymore.

Sea queens were made for purpose. They had been forced to adapt or die. They had adapted and were made now to follow their chosen family. Live for their family; die for their family.

There were clear lines of _protect_ for the _pit_ and _kill_ for any enemy that dared come near their family. Sea queens were perfect oceanic predators, top of the food chain _._

 _But they were..._

 _She was_ -

She drifted.

She was, as all sea queens were, possessive, tactile, aggressive, territorial, greedy, and loyal.

{Addict. Coward. Unstable. Weak. Failure. Abomination.}

She recoiled from the sibilant voice.

Her head cracked against the concrete behind her. The dull ache pulsed in time to the scratching.

Why did it never stop its _scritchscritchtatscratch_ 'ing, even when it deigned to speak?

 _Go away, go away, go away._

The Other laughed. And scratched and scritched.

The beast was quiet as it shrunk in their mind from the Other.

The beast was afraid of the monster behind the wall.

They couldn't let the Other out/in, can't ever let it free or the rest come and the voices and the memories and-

She drifted away from the Other's wall in her mind. They had wandered too close.

She floated in the gray.

A human baby could have all of their basic needs for sleep and food met, but if they were denied physical affection they could die from touch starvation.

It wasn't so unexpected for another species to feel the same. Sea queens needed to ground themselves in family.

[Aren't different. We feel, we bleed, we hurt. They made us hurt, they-]

 _Shut up, shut up, shut up!_

[It hurts. It hurts! Why did they make us hurt? Our sisters-]

She locked the beast away. She fled from the looming wall. She drifted.

Everyone and everything was breakable to her. In her prime she was a force to rival giants and titanic sea kings. She was the apex ocean predator in a world defined by the seas.

She could stop fighting the madness. She could give in. Stop thinking. Stop remembering the past.

She could live in the present. She could fight and hunt and destroy and forget about the pain.

It would be so easy to rip and tear and lose herself in the adrenaline of a hunt and the hot blood of a kill.

Only a handful of people in the New World would have a chance against her. They could try to cage her again; they could try to kill her.

She would crush them beneath her feet. Feel their bones snap between her teeth. Revel in their screams, soar on their fear-

She drifted away from the imagery with a shuddering breath. It was too tempting a thought to let her humanity go. Stubborness had kept her wandering the seas for the last 20 years. She wasn't going to give in now.

[They're dying-dying around us. Can you hear the screaming? _Can't you hear the screaming?_ Weak. You're weak. _Why can't you save them?_ ]

The words were an old ache. A bruise that never healed.

She could never save them.

Riyo locked the beast down. It needed some time to come back from their past while she thought about the present. It freaked out when it started to remember too much.

With nothing but the scratching left to interrupt her, something she had learned to tune out, she took a deep breath and then released it slowly.

She had no idea how she ended up floating in the middle of the East Blue. It was another memory lapse, much longer than anything she'd experienced before.

She clearly remembered wandering an isolated island in Paradise on the Grand Line. When she woke again there was endless water, consuming darkness, gleeful _scritchscratchscritchscritch_ 'ing, and barbed loneliness clawing inside her mind as she floated on the waves.

This had been the nearest island. Best she could figure, she had blacked out and then been lost at sea for over two weeks.

At least she was about 60% sure it had been two weeks.

And lost was relative when she lived in the sea. Misplaced then? Time and people and places blurred together too easily anymore.

The Marines here were executing her this afternoon on the grounds of some trumped up charges of some kind. She didn't really care for the details.

Bunch of sheeple. This is why it was so hard to find a real _pit_ among the humans. They were all so easily cowed. Ignorant and weak and pathetic, relying on their World Government and their marines for their protection. Those pompous, inbred, self-righteous pigs could care less about their people. The Marines were as corrupt as they were useless. None of the humans she's had the unpleasantness to meet so far could stand in the shadow of even one member of her first family.

A _pit_ was strong; they were understanding and dedicated and honest and honorable. A _pit_ stood together, stronger as a whole than any single part.

A family.

Until life spit your happiness into your face and burned your world at your feet.

She pulled from her mind to check her body again.

She shifted her stiff legs, the chains digging into her skin and adding to the dark bruising.

It didn't hurt any more. She was too numb from the cold.

Her body was already in the first stages of _somnum_. It was shutting down nerves and motor functions, dulling the edges of the world around her and providing a fuzzy cocoon to think her scattered thoughts.

She was pretending she didn't know she was well on her way to dead.

She might not even make the scheduled execution. Bad form to be late to your own death, wasn't it?

She couldn't remember what the proper dying etiquette would be so she thought of the sea.

She could barely remember the soothing warmth of underwater vents in the blackness of the sea floor. The nourishment of what was a toxic environment for most other living things. She thought of the play of sunlight on coral, the flash of too-bright scales, and the thrill of a sea king hunt.

She couldn't even remember the locations to all of her hoards of shinies ferreted away in underwater caves.

She couldn't ever forget the feel of curling through the water, flying through liquid like a bird through the air.

She dug claws into the feeling of safety and pride she could only know surrounded by the contentment of her family and the happy laughter of her _pit_.

She drifted into her mind.

It was ironically fitting that after everything she had lived through for the last three and a half centuries it was a bunch of no-name, idiot marines in the weakest damn Blue who would be ending her. They didn't even know who the hell she was or how very much the World Government would have paid for her head.

She laughed. The sound was startling, rusty and weak, but she didn't stop.

It was all funny. Her life. Her death. Someone had to appreciate how fucked she was.

Her bounty poster had never been updated after the Break, which is a large part of the reason no one recognized her-she wasn't human in that picture. It wasn't even a real picture, just a barely there shadow of her True Change beneath the waves. She had grown larger since then.

[Old Beta made them come back and everything was jagged and backwards and broken and wrong. Always wrong without Alpha.]

She sucked in a breath as the beast slipped through the door. The jolt of _missinglonelybrokenfailurewrong_ was a physical ache that resonated at a layer even deeper than the cold.

She used the last of her energy to resurrect shields (as much as she could call them shields in her state) around herself-Riyo-and separate from the monsters in her mind.

She ignored the deep, mocking laugh at the attempt. Dry leaves and dead trees and dusty rocks rolling against the intangible barrier, emphasized by the _scratchscratchscratchscratch_ that the Other never stopped.

She was Riyo. She was not her beast. She was not her past. She was not the Other.

She was alive. She was a survivor.

She was dying in this cage. She was losing what little sanity she had left.

She needed a miracle and she didn't deserve one.

The beast keened in her mind. There was nothing but sadness and bitterness and pain in the sound. Pain and resignation.

The beast was a creature of freedom and pride, hedonism and self-gratification...and it felt nothing at her captivity and disgrace now. The beast was simply going through the motions and that scared her more than anything else.

They were already a fractured psyche. Her conscious beast was too close to the surface. The chaos of the broken parts of the Other were locked behind a construct of pure will and survival, _scritchscratchscritch_ 'ing at a mental wall so absolute after 20 something years it was as much conscious work to hold as it was to keep her hearts beating.

They were too broken.

She was tired.

The wall in her mind shook as the Other rose. It still had life in it.

Claws _tinkscratchshinktinkscritch_ 'ed down the wall in unbreaking sweeps, faster and faster and faster. Teeth snapped and snarled and bit.

It hated being caged far more than the human, and hated the human for allowing them to be caged.

The Other snarled at her beast, hated the beast as weak and mindless and free when it was not.

She knew its anger. Riyo hated not caring they were caged, and hated the beast for fighting for every breath they continued to claim, and hated the beast and the Other and even Ray for making her _live_ when it had been her _right to die that day_.

She was a captive to her dying body as surely as the bars in front of her.

[Let us die. Why won't they let us die. Can't you hear us screaming? _Make it stop._ ]

 _Scritchscratchsnarlsnapshink_ , faster and faster against the wall.

What was freedom or a cage when you weren't really living anyway?


	2. Chapter One

_Chapter 01 - Alpha and Beta_

 _Edited: 11/09/2017_

 _Posted: 4/5/2016_

* * *

Something woke Riyo.

There was a sluggish beat of space before the surprise set in.

She woke up. She was awake.

Her mind was blank with shock as she stared at the progress of the light across the cracked concrete and stone. A few hours, three or four, had passed. It felt like seconds.

She was losing more and more time.

Her heartbeats stuttered, pumping less and less blood in preparation to shut down completely.

She knew the next time she fell asleep she wouldn't be waking up again. Not unless someone miraculously figured out they needed to dump her in boiling ocean water and then toss her in a banked fire in a giant loop for 24 hours.

Because that was completely logical reasoning for what to do with a six foot dead lizard, which is what she was going to look like in maybe an hour more.

She was running out of time.

Chains _schlink_ 'ed across the uneven stone floor as she sat herself straight against the wall; she had slumped over awkwardly in her sleep. It wasn't as if the metal allowed her much movement.

It could have been worse. They could have been seastone chains. She could have lost all of her self-control and spent her last days a drugged out mess and higher than a Grandline gull.

So there was that.

She stretched as much as she could, trying to work out stiff muscles and encourage what blood flow she had. She couldn't feel anything below her knees and elbows and she had a crick in her neck, an annoyance to add to her already full shit list.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

The voice echoed down the hall outside her cell. She cocked her head curiously. The shouting must have been what woke her up.

Whoever it was, they sounded quite young. Male. Lacking the barking edge common with the trained marines. No, the guy sounded lost and bored, of all things.

She would have normally sent out a tendril of haki to prod, but it wasn't worth the effort in her weakened state and she doubted she could get enough focus at this point to manage it. She would have to work with what she had.

"Hello." She winced at the cracked edge of her own voice. It hadn't even been a word, more of a broken sound.

Whoever it was heard. The slap of sandals on stone was easy to pick up as he got closer and shortly the echoing sound crescendoed into-

A skinny, unassuming teenage boy in front of her cell.

That was rather anticlimactic.

She looked up from his sandals to his shorts to his red vest to-

His hat. An old, battered straw hat over his tousled black hair.

That damn hat.

The boy's face morphed into a frown in her peripheral vision the longer she stared at the hat. That seas damned hat.

"What're you doing in there?"

She stared at the boy. Stared at the straw hat that made her hearts stop in a maybe-not-so-good way.

Her mouth moved but no words came out.

She pressed a hand to her lower side. Huh. Her secondary heart had stopped.

She took a stuttering breath when she felt the next sluggish beat of her main heart. It was slightly out of sync. She couldn't expect too much considering she was dying. What was a little arrhythmia?

[Old Alpha's hat. Old Theta's hat. Why does he have Old Theta's hat?]

"I'm trying to ask," she wheezed distractedly to the beast.

Obviously the hat was real if the beast could see it too; she wasn't hallucinating the boy and the hat due to lack of oxygen to the brain as her body shut down.

There was something wrong in that reasoning but it was a fleeting thought.

"Huh?" He tilted his head like a confused puppy. "Ask what?"

It made her head pound, seeing that hat. It ate at her gut more than weeks of starvation. It physically hurt more than any beating, more than feeling her body shut down and give up limb by limb and organ by organ. She sat there, mouth open, and stared at that straw hat.

Red wouldn't have given that hat to just anyone.

The pain was all consuming, and pain meant she was alive and still sane enough to understand what had been and gone and what this boy would be in the years to come. She was staring at a generation's dreams wrapped in this unassuming package. An entire era of dreams in this child.

[Hope.]

No. She couldn't hope.

She hated this boy. She had to.

The familiar well of anger surged; she didn't try to fight it.

It was all encompassing. The Other actually stopped scratching and the beast whimpered at the tidal wave.

The fury manifested for one moment of time in her aura, her body too weak for it to last longer than a second or two. It was enough that it should have made the boy flinch or cower or faint.

The child stood, unaffected and tall, with only a single blink and curious glance down the hall to each side to show he had felt anything at all.

He didn't even process an aura that had sent grown men screaming and pissing themselves.

The anger passed as quickly as it came. The Other resumed scratching, the beast started thrumming in an attempt to soothe itself, and she was tired.

She felt every one of her centuries in that moment.

It started as a rough, choked sound, gasped air, and only improved marginally in the next few seconds. It broke through her lips without thought.

A laugh.

Either she laughed at the bitter bite of fate or she'd cry until her main heart stopped too. To see this child, that hat, bare minutes before she died...It was both a cruelty and a balm.

Old Alpha's legacy would live.

She laughed. She laughed at the thought of the World Government trying to kill the Pirate Age when there were still Wills like this in the world. She laughed at the chaos this boy would no doubt cause. She laughed at her own shit luck that she wouldn't get to see the World Government brought to their knees by this child in a way she had promised Old Alpha at the end she would not.

"How," she choked between the sounds, "did you get that hat?"

She devolved into a coughing fit after that, her mind a whirl of near manic giddiness at the irony of it all.

"This is my treasure!" He placed a hand on the hat protectively. "Shanks gave it to me."

She smiled so large it hurt her cheeks and made her dry lips crack and burn. She had been right.

"Everyone should have a treasure," she whispered.

[Old Theta's hat! Theta chose him. Want him. Be ours. Be _pit_. _Boyhomehereboyours.]_

The beast was like a lost puppy that had finally found its family. Even the frantic scratching had slowed as the Other took notice of the child. She could feel only the faintest disinterested curiosity from the Other; the boy was something to break the monotony and delay the inevitable.

She didn't have the heart to tell the beast it would do no good to want so much now, and the Other was far more intelligent-it already knew it was pointless to hope.

She watched the boy. He stared at her through the cell bars, head cocked like a curious owl.

"Marines," she coughed, her body weakening quickly after the blast of aura, "had me arrested on bullshit charges." That summed it up nicely.

She cleared her throat, trying to smooth over her voice and remove the lingering echo of fraying sanity from her laughter. That may have only been ringing in her ears though. It was hard to say.

"Execution's in a half hour," she added. That was relevant, right?

He stared at her for a few seconds before he proceeded to pick his nose. "Did they do that to you?"

"Do what?"

Her vision was getting blurry. She was positive there weren't supposed to be three of him.

"Your arms and legs. Did the Marines do that?"

She laughed again, a short burst of air at the thought of the blue-white snacks getting through her scales. "No. I did it."

He flicked a booger off his finger. "Why?"

He was awful damn calm for having infiltrated a marine base not to mention having this conversation with her. When someone admits to self-harm most people don't look so relaxed. They generally look repulsed, confused, and slightly panicky- as if the crazy would rub off on them.

Then again, that hat was the calling card of beautiful, reckless fools who didn't have the self-preservation instincts an ant was born with.

"Broken. Don't like being touched. Caged." She shrugged.

He frowned deeper, and it looked wrong on his face for some reason.

[Alpha shouldn't frown. Fix it. _Fixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixit_.]

The beast kept up that chant in her mind. It made it hard to focus on the boy's next words.

"Join my crew."

"What?" She honestly hadn't heard. At least, there was no way he said what she thought he had said over the beast's demanding litany.

"Sail with me. Join my crew."

She sputtered on her next exhale. She stared at him when her eyes cleared from the reflexive tears.

His face had split into a massive grin, so large it should be physically impossible.

She couldn't look away. It was like watching a living movie of her past-minus the boogers. It was that same smile decades ago that cajoled her into following a ship that was going to conquer the Grand Line. That same smile that prompted her to follow a human on the adventure that defined her life.

That smile had asked her at the very end of their adventure to take on the world and live when she should have died with it.

"I'm looking for Zoro's katanas and then he's going to join my crew. Join us. I'll get you out of this cage and you can sail with me."

{Fool. Child.}

 _Scritchscratchshinkscritch_ faster and faster and faster and faster. The Other growled behind the wall.

[Alpha. New Alpha. _Home_.]

The conflicting waves of _stupidfoolishunworthy_ and _alphahomesafe_ made her head swim.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, _shut up!_ "

She didn't realize she had said it out loud, let alone yelled it, until the venom in the words echoed back at her from the stone walls.

Her fingers were dug into her scalp and twisted in her hair. The chains hanging from her wrists and pulling at the strands were anchors reminding her she couldn't get out of her own head.

She was so tired.

"Hey, you're okay," the boy said quietly. He had crouched down and wrapped his hands around the bars to lean forward closer to her. "I'll fix it."

She needed to get away from him. Her head cracked against the wall as she threw it back. Again.

Hazy pain. Almost done. _Somnum_. Rest. Sleep.

She turned her glare from the ceiling to the boy.

A child.

" _A child_ ," she spit out. "That's all you are. You can't fix _me_. You're a baby, a whisper that may become a roar to be heard across the nations or you may sputter and die in the cacophony of the world. A bright spark and pretty to watch while it crackles but you burn out so young and end up nothing but a cold ember in the dirt. I've watched so many of you rise and fall. Live and die over and over and over again. I'm tired. I'm _dying_. All the Will in the seas can't change that fact."

She had to break her gaze away from his set jaw and stubborn eyes. She focused on a spot over his shoulder.

"I'll be dead before they even come to execute me. Forget me. Live your dream. I've had a piece of mine. Don't repeat my mistakes by breaking your head against the impossible."

She turned her back on the boy, as far as she could in the chains.

Silence hung between them, heavy and choking.

"No."

The word rang with authority.

Immutable. Untouchable. Undeniable.

The Other stopped scratching.

The beast flattened itself in her mind. It stretched its slender neck out in supplication and submission.

Alpha.

She turned to look over her shoulder, numb arms wrapped around the numb legs pulled up to her chin.

The child was gone. In his place was a Captain. A leader. The assurance, laughter, strength, acceptance, love, encouragement, and pure _Will_ of an Alpha.

It was Roger standing before her all over again. Asking her to give an adventure a chance. Demanding she live after the adventure was done and he was dead.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates. I'm getting you out. And you're joining my crew. And you _aren't_ dying. I'll help you."

She stared at him. For a moment she could not breathe. She thought her primary heart had finally stopped at the worst fucking time possible, but there was another spasm.

Nope, she was only stunned stupid.

Because she believed him. All of it. For the first time in over two decades there was someone she could call _pit_.

"It's incurable."

She had to push. She always had to push. Life had screwed her over too many times to accept something like this. She didn't deserve the second chance she had already had with Roger. No way she was getting a third.

"It's not. You'd already have accepted it by now if it was and you wouldn't be arguing with me. You think you have to die for whatever dumb reason, and you don't. So tell me what you need to live and you'll live."

That was too stupid and far too perceptive all at once. He was a dichotomy, a puzzle. It had been so long since someone or something had actually caught her attention. Let alone someone as crazy as a D of all things. A D with a dream to rival the world.

She closed her eyes. The Other was blessedly still as it plotted over the potential of Luffy-and having a Monkey as their Alpha if Garp found out she still lived. The beast vibrated in silent anticipation as it waited for her response.

She smiled. It made her face ache. This felt like it was her first true smile since the Break, and she owed the kid a serious answer for that little miracle.

He reminded her far too much of the Before time. Her draw hadn't been this immediate to Roger, but the same thrum of excitement and adventure was there. A chance for purpose. She could be useful again in making sure Luffy actually lived to see his dream through.

She made her decision from one shallow breath to the next.

"I'm Riyo. I won't lie to you; I really am dying. But I'm not human and it can be cured if you can do the work." 24 hours critical care and a couple of months convalescing of work. "You got here in time to say 'hi' and 'bye', really. I don't have more than twenty minutes or so before I'm going to change into my real body, a small version of it anyway. When I change I'm going to shut down completely to try to heal."

"Change how?" Luffy asked, completely serious.

"It'll be about a six foot water lizard." Well, a water lizard was close enough for her purposes. She didn't think he'd have the attention span for a lecture on sea queen culture; she didn't have the time for a lecture on sea queen culture. "It'll seem like I don't have a heartbeat or breath. My brain will be deeply asleep. I will look like I'm dead. I'll be like that for 24 hours. That's the critical window. I need constant care or I really will die. It's going to seem weird and counter productive, but I need to stress that I'm not human. There won't be a second chance if you don't follow my instructions exactly."

He nodded, the shade from the hat shadowing his gaze as he stared at her. "Tell me, and I'll do it." Implacable, factual. He spoke and she knew in her bones as the words settled in the air that she was going to live.

She would be free again, for better or worse.

She nodded slowly when the words wouldn't come. Her throat was too thick to speak.

[Alpha. Protect. _Pit_.]

The Other was finished calculating. {We will test.}

She shuddered. The Other had agreed to give him a trial run. That was practically a parade down center street from it.

Decision made, the scratching started again as the Other ignored them all to wait for somnum.

She didn't even care at this point. It was an almost soothing constant in her suddenly backwards life.

Riyo believed Monkey D. Luffy would do everything in his power to make sure she lived.

And Riyo was going to return the favor.

* * *

Luffy had her out in a matter of minutes (somehow finding the key to the chains hanging on the wall, figuring out the creative use of a rock as a hammer for the cell door, and applying an all around astonishing amount of brute force for such a small frame). She assumed most of the brute strength was due to a devil fruit as there wasn't a touch of haki on him and he was entirely human, not a hybrid of any fishman or giant.

Riyo had been unleashed on the world with a _pit_ and a purpose-which would be a lot more badass once she healed. She was as coordinated as a drunk baby giraffe and even less useful than that in a fight right now.

Luffy dragged (tossed over his shoulder) Riyo down hallways and through rooms throughout the base. Good thing she was smaller than Luffy as a human.

The clothes she was wearing weren't helping her pathetic appearance. The black shirt was baggy and hung almost to her knees, the loose pants, more of a tan where they used to be white, were held up precariously by a brown leather belt. She never wore shoes. They were too constricting.

All in all she looked like a teenage kid playing a sad game of dress up and living on the streets.

Which was kind of accurate. She had stolen all of the items at various points and they were all stained and torn. They were also crusted from salt and dried blood due to her unexpected swim in the sea and subsequent arrest.

Her hair kept falling into her eyes in a tangled mess; stupid stuff was almost down to her waist and she had nothing to tie it up with. Then again, all of that would cease to matter as soon as she Changed. The clothes could be burned for all she cared and her hair would disappear.

Time became pointless as she rested on Luffy's shoulder. The rooms all blurred together. There may have been the sound of cracking concrete and angry voices at one point. It was hard to say as she kept falling in and out of consciousness.

The next thing she knew they were in bright sunlight and Luffy was speaking to a man with a deep voice while she leaned against something hard with her ass on the dirt ground.

There was a tickle against her cheek and she realized it was cloth. Her eyes moved up. Dark pants. She took a moment to actually tilt her head back and blink at the man tied to the post she was leaning against.

This must be Zoro.

Her Captain really knew how to pick them. One crewmember was dying, the other was weaponless and trussed up like a pig.

Not an ideal start to this new adventure.

She tilted her head again to look over at Luffy animatedly talking. Glass tinkled to the ground from her hair and clothes in tiny, glittery bursts of rainbow light as she moved.

Pretty. But when had they gone through a window?

Her vision grayed in and out as her way-too-low blood pressure tried to compensate for her brain coordinating her body to move.

They weren't exactly in agreement.

She listed to the side and fell next to the post at the man's feet.

She had meant to sit up further.

She wasn't bleeding much from the lingering punctures and gouges in her arms and legs because her primary heart wasn't pumping fast enough to push blood out. She ignored her almost non-existent heart rate, ignored the beast whimpering in her mind as their blood flow became stagnant, her body finally shutting down to knock her ass out for her own good.

The Other was a distant presence, the scratching rhythmic and anticipatory. She hadn't fallen into _somnum_ since the Break. She had no idea how it would impact her control over the beast or the Other. Or the even worse things that lurked behind the wall with the Other.

She had told Luffy what he had to do for _somnum_ , but she didn't know how he would possibly be able to keep track of it all. She could already tell he wasn't the most focused.

No, he wouldn't give up on her.

Would he?

{Weak. Useless human.}

She snarled out loud at the Other. "Sh't up yoo b'stard chil' of ah sea tur'le. You don-don't contr'l me," she muttered. She grabbed a fist full of tangled hair and pulled. Or tried to.

{It is you.}

"Hay-t'yoo."

Herself or not, she really did hate the Other more days than not. It put a whole new spin on self-contempt when you could hold conversations with the part you most despised.

She didn't realize anyone was paying attention to her until she glanced up.

Some pink haired kid was shaking and backing up slowly from her. Luffy was comically paused holding up three katanas to the bandanna wearing man while frowning at her. The trussed up pig was a human man, probably in his late teens and maybe a year or two older than Luffy. He was staring at her with a blank, intense gaze beneath a bandanna that would be terrifying to most.

He looked like a puffed up kitten to her.

The image of a green kitten spitting and hissing at her with tiny claws distracted her enough it took her brain way too long to put three swords together with East Blue and Zoro and realize the man was Roronoa Zoro, Demon of the East Blue. And a bounty hunter.

Luffy had convinced a bounty hunter to become a pirate.

Of course he had.

Wait, was Zoro's hair actually green, or was that the shadow of the bandanna? Was the bandanna dark green or black? It was all kind of dancing together as her vision tunneled in and out.

"Riyo, you still there?"

Really, how did the three sword thing work? Was he overcompensating or something?

She giggled, a puff of air that she didn't have. She was getting giddy. It was disassociation as her brain lost blood flow and oxygen, diverting the last of her energy to slowing and then halting her body's central processes completely.

Words drifted in and out.

"Riyo, say someth…can hear me."

"Lu-Luffy, I don't…breathing."

[Tired. Need to heal.]

Yes, yes. They would heal and they would be free again. They had purpose again.

[Like the green guy. Warm. Feels safe.]

Yeah, he did. He had a nice aura. He was funny with his weird colors and green kitten ears; she liked him.

Or was the kitten in her head? Oh well, they would keep him.

"Oh, she's okay-fake die…care while...gets not not-deaded."

[Beta], the beast added to her thoughts.

Beta sounded nice. They would keep the _pit_ safe together, her green kitten and her. Someone had to watch out for Alpha and his crazy ideas

"The hell-talking 'bout? Is she dead or-?"

"-not human-"

She could only imagine she looked dead. She laughed again, at least she thought she did, and used the last of her energy to roll onto her back from her side and stare up at Alpha and Beta.

Hers. Theirs.

There were more words, but she blacked out for a second and then Luffy was in her face.

"Riyo-happening?" He was shaking her shoulders and making her head bob on her neck like a marionette with the cords cut. It was giving her a migraine as her vision split between starbursts from the sun and too-close focus as Luffy shoved his face worriedly in hers.

"All-phuh, pr'm'se."

Words were hard.

Luffy quietly whispered, "Promise."

She started to fall over when Luffy let go, but he caught her, laying her on the ground gently at Beta's feet.

She sent a half formed thought to the beast and Other to not eat anyone while they were healing.

She wasn't sure they heard her. Or cared.

Riyo blinked up in confusion at the sudden shadow. Beta's crotch?

Her vision tunneled in on itself.

Beta held back a wall of white around them with three swords. There was one sword in each hand and one with a white hilt gripped between his teeth as he stood protectively over her. He shoved, and the marines stumbled back at the force.

Huh, so that's how that worked.

The world turned black.

She knew for a fact after that view the swordsman had nothing to compensate for. All was well in his department.

Her body twitched, jerked, then collapsed in on itself as she simultaneously shrunk and lengthened.

It was slow and painful. Not smooth. Not natural. Not normal.

Her lungs seized in her new body as she exhaled a soft breath.

She didn't inhale.

Her last thought was Luffy. Her faith that he would make sure she lived.

She wanted to live.

Her primary heart stopped.

Seas damned D's and their smiles.

She wanted to live again.

Her brain went offline.


	3. Chapter Two

_Chapter 02 - Chew Toy_

 _Edited: 11/12/2017_

 _Posted: 4/2016_

* * *

They woke to steady rocking.

Felt good to feel scales and legs and tail again.

Where was human? They peered around their mind, ignoring the scratching at the wall.

Ah, human was sleeping in their head. The long sleep where they healed. Good. Human had been stubborn not healing for so long.

"What the hell is that? Is it even alive?"

They slitted their eyes open at the unknown voice. Stayed relaxed, though. Had to assess; they were weak. Must protect human.

Their skin itched; they were shedding the first of many layers to heal the physical damage. That was good.

But _itchyitchyitchy_.

They clung tighter to their perch when it moved. A careful inhale brought the scent of steel and sweat and sake.

Beta. Safe.

It took them a moment to catalog their sluggish body. They were half under Beta's shirt, their tail coiled around his waist. They came up and over one shoulder, around the back of his neck, to wrap around the other shoulder. Their head was laying on Beta's chest.

{You've become a giant, scaly scarf.}

[Bite me,] they snapped back at the feral one.

Sharp teeth flashed in a warning behind the wall.

A hazy memory of Beta protecting them from a circle of blue-white snacks at the awful, cold, cage island surfaced.

Zoro. Yes. Beta, protector for the _pit_ and second to Alpha. That meant they were almost halfway to a complete _pit_.

{Weak. It needs no one. _Pit_ is weak.}

[It can shut up,] they growled back.

"Hey! Don't talk about Riyo like that, Usopp! She's part of our crew and she's not dead! She moved, see!"

Alpha, defending them against the voice they didn't recognize. The faintest tremor in Alpha's tone, a tremor only they could hear.

It made them ache.

Alpha had been afraid. Afraid he wouldn't help them right? This was their first time awake.

The human was sleeping inside, asleep in all the broken places in their head. Did their new Alpha want the human back?

Was he afraid of them now that they looked more like themselves? Did he think they were a monster?

The grogginess lifted slowly and they reached out with their natural power, assessing Alpha, assessing this Usopp human.

Humans had Observation Haki, at least their human did, as well as Armament, but this was their own skill. It let them know who was safe, who could be trusted, what could safely be hunted and eaten and what was too dangerous and needed to be avoided while they healed.

Usopp was weak and cautious. Hardly even a snack. But he had a core of promise that could grow if given time and challenge. Alpha would know this.

They heard the feral scoff before it spoke. {Eat him. Weak. Useless.}

They growled out loud, and everyone froze around them, even Beta.

[They're in charge. Human left it behind the wall.]

{For now.}

They ignored the threat. The feral was strong. Strong enough that it might break free while human slept and healed. They could only wait and see.

The feral one was a part of them, even though they knew human did not like it. It was a part they tried to avoid. It wasn't right after the Break, locked behind the wall with the rest of the too-broken bits.

A breeze blew by as they lifted their head to look at the small group around them. They snuggled tighter into the heat of Beta.

They liked this Beta. He was warm and strong and steady and made a nice roost for them.

They blinked at the humans. A female with red hair and a male with a big nose. Beta placed a warm, callused palm against their snout.

They leaned into the touch.

He scratched at their itchy face scales.

They purred.

"She was caught by the marines. They beat her. Almost starved her to death. She was human and then changed into this lizard thing." They opened their mouth and gummed Beta's fingers for that comment. No teeth. Teeth and claws and poison were for enemies, but they were certainly not a lizard thing.

"What the-what was that for?" he grumbled. "Whatever." Beta shrugged his shoulders as he wiped the spit on his shirt. "She warned Luffy about the change; she told him it'd help her heal."

The deep baritone of Beta's voice as he spoke lulled them further into the heat of his hand and the comfort of _pit_. His words were even as he spoke, but they felt the coiled rage deep inside beneath the calm. They had chosen a very good Beta-protector-heater-roost.

Human hadn't been able to explain what they were before human slept. And they doubted Alpha would have understood. They supposed they would have to get used to lizard for now. Their _pit_ didn't know better.

They reached out lazily to the area around them, comfortable the humans around Alpha and Beta were not a threat. They categorized anything of interest as they relaxed into Beta's shoulder and chest again.

This island was ridiculously normal.

"Wait, they beat her? Starved her? You guys never told me that. I thought she was supposed to be that skinny or something."

The red haired female human spoke. They blinked at her. She was lying.

How interesting.

She hadn't really thought that, but she had wished she could believe their peeling skin and scales stretched taut over bone was truth. Odd human.

She was not a threat, but she made them uneasy. Not _pit_ , but Alpha was comfortable with her. Beta was cautious, but that was normal for Betas.

The woman was full of sorrow and hatred. A sort of brokenness that had never had the chance to heal; it always cracked open before it could close.

The feelings set their protective instincts on edge. They weren't sure if they wanted to shield the woman or defend against her. Injured prey was the most dangerous.

The woman was haunted by some kind of loss. They knew that sorrow, helplessness, hatred, and rage all too well.

"I'll help however I can with it. I hate seeing animals hurt-"

Mmm, the one that smelled like prey the longer they walked. Uso-something?

{Chew Toy.}

They huffed at the feral. It kept scratching at the wall. Fine. Chew Toy. He would be Chew Toy if Alpha insisted on keeping him.

"Her, Usopp. She's a lizard right now but she can be human shaped too."

Such a good Alpha.

"Uhhh...how is that possible? Um, okay. I'll help even scary-weird animal-humans, I guess."

"Great!" Alpha started talking far too fast, over excited in his desire to care for them. "We need a big pot of boiling sea water-not regular water, she said it had to be fresh sea water or it wouldn't work-large enough to fit her in. The one we had kind of got knocked overboard earlier today."

"Yeah, when _you_ fell overboard to chase a fish. You forgot you're a hammer, dumbass."

They chuffed against Beta's neck in amusement as he said this. That sounded like Alpha. Alpha should wait for when human woke up again, then they could Change together and Alpha wouldn't need to worry about falling in, they would always catch him, and they could protect him if he wanted to lay in the water.

"We need as much fish, shrimp, sea king, or any other seafood as you have. Oh, and a fireplace with coals to let her bake in. Bunked? Banged?"

"Banked, Luffy."

"Right! Thanks, Zoro! A banked fire! And...something else, what was it...Oh! Some rough gravel she can roll in to put in her pot at night while she boils!"

Chew Toy had stopped walking. "Are you trying to heal her or tenderize and cook her?"

"Don't ask questions, long nose! Snap to it! She's been cold for too long now!"

The broken woman. Yelling right in their sensitive ear. So loud.

They turned their head and snapped in front of the woman's face to show their displeasure at the high pitched screeching. They weren't trying to hurt. No teeth.

{So loud. Loud Woman.}

Yes, so loud. And now silence. They were getting sleepy again. They agreed with the feral one; broken woman would be called Loud Woman.

Beta had stopped walking when Chew Toy did after they snapped. They liked the rocking to help them sleep; it reminded them of the ocean currents.

They used their tail to tug at Beta's torso, pulling him forward. Beta grumbled, but he walked again.

Perfect.

"Ah, hah, hah. Right," said Loud Woman much quieter. "I'll help you get all of that, Usopp."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks. We're going now. Far, far away. Nami, right?"

* * *

Usopp hadn't known what to think of the lizard-girl called Riyo. She hadn't seemed like a real person. A little dangerous and a little weird, but not human (especially not when she looked an awful lot like a six foot version of the sea lizards that sometimes sunned themselves on the west side of the island).

Then he watched her head snap up from Zoro's chest to where Luffy lay beneath the keel of the ship on the beach.

He watched her slide off Zoro's shoulders and walk down the incline as if the dozens of pirates swinging swords and shooting guns and screaming around her didn't even exist.

He never saw her obviously evade anything. She made it all seem as if it was her complete choice where she walked, slowly and methodically, along the sand.

Which happened to avoid every shot and swing perfectly, sometimes by centimeters.

And he watched her sit at Luffy's side calmly, her upper body balanced on her hind legs, tail curled around her feet primly.

When the creepy-scary hypnotist guy looked at her, she stared back.

And then Usopp knew.

An animal could not display that much understated skill. An animal could not remain so calm in such a high stress environment.

An animal could not stare the hypnotist down with the promise of a slow, painful, and bloody retaliation.

Without speaking a word. Without moving a muscle. Without even blinking.

And Usopp could only shudder and thank whatever being was listening that she was on their side.


	4. Chapter Three

_Chapter 3 - Peacock_

 _Edited: 11/12/2017_

 _Posted: 4/2016_

* * *

"Is that a mini dragon?"

"No….Well, she might be a dragon? Kinda small for a dragon, but that'd be cool. What if she is a mini dragon? Zoro, she never said! That would be awesome!"

They felt the warm bed they were lying on move when Beta grunted. They blinked their eyes open. Yes, they were wrapped around Beta.

And wherever they were smelled delicious.

"This is Riyo. She's part of our crew. She got hurt when the marines caught her. She needs lots of meat to heal!"

They drifted, letting the conversation soothe them. They were hungry, always hungry as they healed now. Their Alpha would feed them; he was doing a good job caring for them.

{We are alive.}

They ignored the feral.

He was a good Alpha. Good Beta too, toasty warm and he always made sure to keep them steady when he carried them. Alpha forgot about that. A lot.

"Luffy forgot to add that Riyo turned from a woman into that lizard to heal. Anything from the ocean is what she needs, Sanji-kun. Fish, shrimp, crab, sea king, whatever you have we would appreciate it oh-so-much."

"Ah, dear Nami. Did the lovely Miss Riyo eat a devil fruit?"

"A devil fruit? No, not that we know of. She actually loves sea water-the hotter the better."

"That's one way to put it," Beta's voice rumbled next to her.

"Shut it, Zoro. Actually, the poor thing was almost starved to death when she was captured. She could only tell Luffy what she needed before she changed for some reason."

Beta was especially warm today. His steady breathing was comforting around so many strangers. They had put on some weight the last few weeks, and could cling better to Beta, so they didn't need to be inside his shirt any longer. They were still too hungry but no longer had bones protruding under their scales.

But they were interested in this Sanji-human's tone. A sweep of his aura showed he was a ridiculous mess for Loud Woman. He acted like he wanted to mate with her but he felt like that for every female he walked past in the room, at least superficially.

He was doing a horrendous job at his display if that was the case. Is this how all human males acted when they wanted to mate? It had been so long since they had bothered to observe human courting behaviors.

{Ridiculous.}

They could only agree.

[Peacock?] they asked the feral.

It snorted in amusement, still scritching-scratching.

Yes. Peacock. Preening and overbearing, tripping over his own tail feathers in his desire to impress as many females at once as he could.

They could feel Peacock's focus on them. They sent out a tendril of power. Yes, Peacock was broken too, but his broken had been fixed; it was a scar rather than an open wound.

Peacock was strong, and honorable to a fault below all the ridiculousness around females. A Peacock that wasn't completely for show.

They did not know how to feel about that.

As soon as Peacock heard that the white-blue snacks hadn't fed them, he had gone very still. Too still. They didn't need their instinct to know his thoughts on that, with the sudden pungence of adrenaline and rage filling the space around him. His face did not change, but they only needed their nose. He stank with the emotion. Peacock had known true hunger.

The hunger wouldn't have been so bad if human hadn't been losing control of the shields, falling into their mind and jumbling them all up, them and human and the memories.

The human forgot to feed them, then, forgot a lot of things, and they didn't know what to do, and it made them so angry because the human got stuck inside, and they had claws and teeth and it only made it better when they could hunt and crack and tear and destroy outside their confusing head, and…

They jerked, latching their mouth around their front leg. Their teeth were barely out, only enough to feel the pressure. It helped to ground them without human awake.

{Broken beast. Useless,} the Other snarled at them.

"What the hell?!"

They growled at Beta's shocked words as he shuffled them off his chest and into his lap.

They growled at the feral's bitter truth.

Their teeth bit deeper, pressing through scale until it stung.

"Riyo."

They jerked their head, front leg still in their mouth, to look at Alpha across the table.

Alpha's dark eyes were wide and solemn. Disappointed.

They had ruined it. Ruined it all.

{Your Alpha will leave. Too broken. Can't fix. Told you. Stupid.}

They whined deep in their throat. They slid off Beta's-Zoro's-lap and under the table. Their teeth bit deeper until they tasted blood. They keened at the pain.

Hurt them. Ground them.

They were strong, they could go a long time without food, much longer than anything else. It wasn't fun though. It made them cranky and tired. Then human had to fall into the deep sleep.

The human hated the deep sleep. They hated being alone with the feral.

The Loud Woman was there. Chew Toy was there. Alpha. Beta. They all saw. Even Peacock had saw.

Ruined it.

{Stupid animal.}

Alpha suddenly fell to the floor in front of them. It startled them enough they let go of their leg.

Blood dripped slowly down their scales.

They were safe beneath the wooden table and hidden by the long cloth. Hidden from the judging eyes.

Alpha crossed his legs and sat facing them below the table. Small and dark and safe here.

Alpha reached toward them and they flinched back, expecting a punch or slap. Instead they felt Alpha moving their leg and something being pulled tight around it. They glanced at it. Alpha had wrapped one of the small squares of fabric from the table around their leg to stop the blood. They froze in confusion looking from their wrapped leg to their Alpha.

"Riyo." He watched her. Focused. Sad. Resolute. "You said," he started quietly, "when I found you in the cell, that you had hurt yourself. I don't care _why_ you had to, not unless you want to share, but I care that you _had_ to, understand? You shouldn't have to hurt." He paused the cross his arms as he looked at her. "Do you remember what I told you then?"

They startled when they felt Beta slide under the table behind them. Then Loud Woman sat with them, and Chew Toy, and even Peacock crouched to listen to them from behind the cloth. There but not.

Her _pit_ and Alpha's crew and future crew (because they knew how Alpha wanted a cook) under and almost under the table. For them.

{Fools.}

[Our fools.]

They nodded at Alpha. They remembered.

He smiled.

"How can I fix it?"

{Can't. Broken.}

They whined. Shifted closer to Alpha.

Fix it? Help? Alpha helped simply by existing. He helped by being stupid and foolish and brave and carefree and _him_. But even he couldn't fix this.

This was a kind of brokenness that didn't heal. After the Break...human and the feral and them, all the pieces and parts behind the wall...there were too many thoughts inside their head. Too many in one; one split in too many.

Unless human could accept them all...they would always be broken until one day the pain didn't bring them back.

They wanted their Sigma who was being much more Sigma than before. Their Sigma could fix them. Sigma could help human once he was Sigma as he should be.

{Not worthy of a Sigma,} the feral snarled.

They flinched from the voice. They flattened themselves to the floor and whined because it was true. They were weak and broken.

They shut their eyes and curled into their body. They could feel their almost-Sigma farther down the Line, like the tug of a vivre card, and then they let the sensation go.

They did not deserve nice things.

{Never did. We failed.}

"Riyo, you need to explain it to us. Let us help. We can fix it."

{Human. It is not human. Beast is not human!}

They flinched again. Human was sleeping. They were not Riyo.

Not all broken things can be fixed.

They felt something in their mind shift, pressure and pressure and pressure before it-

Popped.

* * *

It was not human.

Its eyes opened and focused on maybe-Alpha. Maybe-Alpha had frozen, a frown growing on his face. He did not speak for a moment, and then-

"You're not Riyo."

The feral smiled back at him with bloody teeth.

The wall that had stood for over two decades with human had its first crack. It would enjoy its time in control.

The cost was a longer slumber for the human, and it wouldn't be able to hold control long. But it had a short agenda, and human sleeping wasn't much of a cost to it at all.

It factored as a positive, in fact.

The human was too sentimental, too contained by her own sense of rules and morals, her own mental blocks constructed of fear.

It had no such limitations.

The human did not seek to push every boundary of their species' many gifts. The human did not accept what they could become.

It did.

It felt the burn and stretch as it used instincts the human and beast could no longer access in order to adapt their body for their new _pit_. Speed along evolution to fit its needs. The baby _pit_ human and the beast were collecting would need the help.

It had never needed to speak in their changed form in the Before. It had preferred not to be human at all, just as the human and animal had not. But things changed. Such was life. It understood this where the human refused to acknowledge it.

If their _pit_ could not understand them, then it would fix it so they could. Sea queens were the grandmother of the aquatic species. Speech was already there.

It twisted its body to its thoughts, pushed it through a fast forward of the cell growth and decay needed to create the necessary pieces. It was a process that required a master's knowledge of biology, expert control over every aspect of their physiology, and a massive amount of energy. It could only be accomplished with age and the help of _somnum's_ naturally increased cellular activity.

It was not underwent lightly. It was not something the human would ever try because that would mean the human would have to acknowledge it as herself.

Also, the pain was spectacular.

A small price to pay for the benefits. A voice to put the foolish humans in their place.

It hacked and growled. Whined and pressed claws to its throat as it burned and shifted and writhed and changed.

Alpha watched silently. They could feel their throat moving under their skin and scales, jerking and twitching, so they weren't surprised when Loud Woman raised a shaking hand to her mouth, looking pale. Chew Toy had already turned his head away. Beta watched and Peacock waited.

After a few minutes it was done.

"It-" they broke off with a choked cough. Growled. "It," it tried again, and was pleased by the rough but clear words, "is not the human. Riyo is human. It is the Others."

It cocked its head, assessing maybe-Alpha. "They chose you as new Alpha, the human and the animal. It remembers what the human told you when you said you could fix the broken. Do you remember what the human told you, little human boy?" It parroted the words back at Alpha, all sharp edges and anger.

"I am a child compared to you. An ember that will burn or die. And that's my choice. Like it's my choice to help you. And like it was Riyo's choice to live. I only asked. She chose. Now you can choose."

It growled but could not argue such straightforward logic.

Alpha nodded to himself. "How many of you are there?"

"It is many. The question should be how many are free to take control."

"How many can take control?" maybe-Beta asked.

Its tail unconsciously twitched with aggression at the interruption, but maybe-Beta did not flinch. Maybe a good Beta.

"It is one, the Other. They are two. Dumb beast and the human."

"Wait," Loud Woman interrupted, "there are more that Riyo has locked down somehow? With you?"

"Yes," it hissed. Teeth descended further to flash at Loud Woman who thought to interrupt _pit_. Sharp white spikes to grip and gouge and tear. It did not bite, but only because it was weak from the energy and focus needed for its voice.

"That's a handy trick," Beta said.

It felt the animal pushing for control then. Always greedy. It growled in response. It wanted to test its _pit_.

[What have you done to human's sleep?] the beast snarled. [You know human will not heal soon!]

Its head jerked to the side as it snapped at the beast in its mind.

"What was necessary," it answered simply.

It twitched and shivered as it fought the beast, but it really was too weak.

Its scales flexed and ruffled like settling feathers before it lost completely.

It was a testament to the tension that no one commented on its scales moving.

* * *

{It is not done,} the feral growled.

They knew the Other was weak from breaking the wall and adapting their body and could not fight any longer.

But the feral was right. There would be no fixing the wall. That was for later, though.

"Yes," they answered Beta's comment. Calmer, to Loud Woman, "Other, it is caged behind the wall but free to speak. They are the beast, and they are in control now. Human is sleeping to heal."

"You can actually hear the inflection change between them…" Chew Toy whispered.

"The pronouns are terrifying and telling," Loud Woman added.

Alpha ignored them. "The Other is more dangerous than you."

They smiled, small and pleased, at Alpha. They took no offense to truth. "The Other is feral. It is our instinct, locked and lost behind the wall."

"But now the Other is free somehow?"

"Always fight. Human and them and the Other. They get lost, or human gets lost, in our head and in the memories and in time. The Other is always scratching at the wall. Scritch, scritch, scratching to be free," they whispered. They laid down and curled into themselves. Did not dare look at Alpha. "The Other got stronger when human went to sleep. It made a crack. The pain...it grounds us. Keeps them outside their head and away from the twists and walls and broken inside."

Beta whispered a curse with quiet weight. Loud Woman looked close to tears, and Chew Toy had a pained expression. Peacock outside the cloth radiated pain. For them.

Alpha, Beta, Loud Woman, Chew Toy, Peacock...they all hurt for them. They had forgotten what it felt like to have those that cared.

"I meant it. What I said. I will help you no matter what."

"Help," they scoffed. They chuffed with bitter laughter. "Alpha cannot fix this. Only human. Human will not listen."

Suddenly they had the full attention of the group. Of Alpha.

"What do you mean?"

They cocked their head in confusion. Wasn't it obvious?

"Sigma. Need a Sigma who can stay Sigma. Human is afraid from the Break. Afraid of the Other. What was locked behind the wall. Sigma who is almost Sigma now will fix it if human listens."

"Who's Sigma?" Loud Woman asked.

"Sigma is Sigma. Want the Sigma." They thumped their tail on the floor, teeth extending further in agitation as their claws dug into the wood floor. "Can feel Sigma is almost Sigma this time."

"This time?" Chew Toy wondered out loud.

"This part has no self-control. It moves from thought to thought, desire to desire."

Nami glanced sideways at Zoro's statements. "That's an awfully big concept coming from you. And I think this is a lot more complicated than we'll get from this personality, Usopp."

"Witch."

Peacock got closer. He peeked beneath the cloth.

"Hey, don't talk to Nami-swan like that you overgrown houseplant."

Peacock was overwhelming and suffocating with his female obsession and anger-all for them, not at them, but still too much and far too close in their small safe space.

"Don't! You stupid curly-"

Too late. Beta shifted and tried to stop him but Peacock was already there.

They snapped their head to him and focused on the pale hand reaching too near to Beta, too close to touching them as Peacock reached across.

They growled deep in their throat as they felt their pupils constrict. Their tail lashed out in defense; they would have preferred teeth.

Peacock's reflexes were fast. They had been aiming for the presumptuous fingers. Peacock had twitched the hand out of danger and their tail hit his forearm instead.

The strike was a loud crack. It opened a thin slice deep into the skin that quickly filled with blood. Their tongue flicked out, scenting the split second snap of adrenaline-fear-surprise in Peacock, quickly replaced with regret.

The blood made them ravenous, made them shift restlessly trying to latch onto the scent. Their strike, their kill.

Beta's arms wrapped around them and pulled them into his warmth. They were still hungry.

"Beast." Alpha's voice. They knew what Alpha was going to say. They stopped moving, but lashed their tail grumpily as they stared at the blood. "I need to think of something to call you. Lizard-Riyo? No...let's see. If the scary one is the Other, and Riyo is Riyo, then you'll be...Ryuko! Since you're another part of Riyo. No eating people, Ryuko. Well, not people who make us food."

"That's your criteria, really?"

Chew Toy. They turned their head and stared at him. His fear smelled delicious. Especially when he whimpered and scurried out from under the table.

Alpha frowned at them. "Or people on the crew, Ryuko. I already said that. No eating our nakama."

They turned their head from Alpha. He ruined all their fun.

They were Ryuko now. They had always been another part of human. It was odd to have their own name, but they would agree if it helped Alpha.

They wanted food to heal so human could wake up again and they weren't alone in their head with the feral locked behind the wall and always scritch-tat-scratching at them. But now the wall was cracked maybe it would stop scratching?

They picked up one gnarled signature behind the kitchen doors that reminded them of the Before. They must have been unconsciously scanning the...ship? Weird ship.

They poked at the man curiously with their instinct.

The man poked back with haki in patient amusement. They snorted, choosing to ignore him. He would be too much work to eat while they were healing, and he wasn't a threat to them or their _pit_.

Peacock gave her an apologetic look where he was peering beneath the table. "I apologize, Ryuko. I shouldn't have gotten so close." He dropped the cloth and moved away.

A timid voice broke the silence around them, although they could only see Chew Toy and Peacock's shoes now.

"She doesn't like to be touched by anyone other than Zoro or Luffy. She ran me down and tried to take a chunk out of my thigh when I got too close a few days ago, and I'm actually on the crew."

When did that happen? They must have been unconscious at the time. They flicked their tongue out to taste more of the prey and blood scent.

Hungry.

Their stomach rumbled, and they shifted in their Beta's arms.

"Come on," he muttered. He lifted them around his shoulders until he could crawl out from under the table as well. He took a seat in a nearby chair as everyone else followed.

They brought their tail to their mouth to lick at the few drops of blood there. A sheep-human gagged somewhere in the room. They were too tired to look for them.

They rumbled at Beta, nudging their head under his chin in demand before dropping it in exhaustion. That took too much energy. They may have pushed too much. The Other, too.

"Food," they whined.

Alpha's laughter rang out. "Sanji, she's hungry! She needs food to get better."

"I'll bring you your dishes momentarily."

Peacock was sincerely contrite. He wasn't scared of them or enraged that they attacked him or angry at his wound, although they could feel the pain of the cut in the changes of his scent. It was deep and they did not regret it.

Peacock was an odd one. Not quite like Beta or Alpha, but strong. They may keep him around. They could feel Alpha's interest in him, purely for his food skills. Alpha, they had learned, could eat more than a titanic sea king when he chose.

"Don't bother, eggplant. I have a fresh seafood bake here. Barely cooked, super-heated, and seasoned with a seafood broth."

"How'd you know that, shitty geezer?"

Ah, the gnarled one. He set a huge bowl of delicious smelling food in front of Beta and them. It was almost half as large as them and filled to the brim.

The gnarled one bowed deeply.

"My peace and protection to you, queen. It is my honor to feed you as you heal."

"Manners," they happily trilled, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Manners? What does that mean and what's with the pledge, geezer? Are there certain rules we're missing here?" Beta grumbled.

They dropped to Beta's lap and then climbed onto the table. They wrapped their whole body around the bowl greedily, sucking up the heat from the ceramic, before shoving their snout in to slurp up the broth and rich pieces of meat.

"Don't worry about it if she hasn't felt the need to tell ya. You. Strawhat. I couldn't help but overhear your issue with the queen. Do you know anything about her?"

They raised their head to look at the gnarled one carefully. Yes, for a human he was of the right age. He may know the truth.

"Gnarled One," they stated clearly. "Their _pit_. Go away."

He raised a bushy eyebrow at them. "If you explain why you need the Sigma, they can help look."

They hissed at him. Their scales fluffed out, flashing bright purple and blue in warning. "Sigma ours."

"Wait, you know what she's talking about, shitty geezer?"

The gnarled one smirked. "Of course. Hard to miss something like her."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Peacock snarled.

"Ever heard of sea queens?" The gnarled one smiled at the frozen faces.

Chew Toy spoke first.

"Sea queens? They're a myth. No one's seen one in over two-three hundred years! Almost nothing is known about them, besides the rumors that they're territorial and aggressive, more dangerous than sea kings or most any other sea creatures. They're supposedly huge, bigger than an island. How could they hide for that long? It's not like they could hide in plain-" Chew Toy's frantic waving slowed and stopped as he watched them unwrap from around their empty bowl and settle in a loose curl in the center of the table. "-plain sight."

Ah, Chew Toy was more clever than they thought. Or had a refined sense of self-preservation. Probably the latter.

"I suppose she's a devil fruit user?" the gnarled one pushed.

"The opposite," Loud Woman said in a shocked whisper.

A quick sweep of the table let them know that Beta was catching on now, surprised but strangely proud of the news. Betas were so odd.

Alpha was still confused; Chew Toy was paralyzed with fear and shock; Loud Woman was torn between fear and horror; Peacock was assessing them; the Gnarled One was content with a job well done.

"Hiding in plain sight," Beta muttered.

"Wait, what do you mean? What's that have to do with Riyo and Ryuko?"

"Luffy, Ryuko really is a mini dragon. And a really freaking big dragon, I think, when she wants to be. She's a sea queen. It's why she can change from human to dragon."

"What? Really? That's SO COOL. She really is a mystery dragon!"

Loud Woman hit Alpha in the back of the head. Yeah, Alpha deserved that one.

"I can tell you what I heard about sea queens in my time sailing."

They tensed, ready to tell the Gnarled One where he could shove what he thought he knew. Their new voice would be good for something.

"No."

They looked at Alpha.

"I don't care about what you know about Riyo, Ryuko, Other, the Grand Line, or anything else. When she's ready she'll share what she wants to and if that means nothing then that's fine. She's my nakama now and that's all that matters."

The Gnarled One was happy. He had expected that.

Humans were weird.

"Just one thing then. A warning, of sorts. Sea queens are notoriously picky with who they allow in their family groups, and it is a great honor to be included. Once they've accepted you, it's for life, and you won't find a better protector. Ever. It's a double edged sword, because when theirs is threatened? There's _no limit_ to what they'll do to protect it."

They sat up on the table. The Gnarled One was walking on thin ice. Their tail began lashing in warning.

"If you can find the Sigma and-"

Her tail slammed down, making everyone but the Gnarled One jump in surprise. There was the audible sound of wood cracking over their drawn out hiss.

Their claws extended, their spikes slid out of their back and their teeth fully lengthened until they curved over their jaw in needle sharp points.

Their tail lashed dangerously side to side, daring the human to say more.

"That's even more handy." Beta.

"Eep!" Chew Toy.

"She gets scarier?!" Loud Woman.

"SO COOL!" Alpha.

"Huh." Peacock.

The human had no right to speak of anything so private. Their mate choice was only for _pit_ to know. No one but _pit_ was safe to know. _Pit_ would help find this new maybe-Sigma and help to protect the Sigma who was almost Sigma.

{Never. Unlovable. Broken.}

They ignored the feral. They could feel the Sigma. They were close. Soon.

The gnarled one smirked at her and bowed his head slightly. "My apologies, queen. And this is the other side of the sea queen's form. Gentle with family, seemingly defenseless until provoked. Keep this in mind: their number one offense is their appearance. Underestimate them once and they'll rip out your throat. Or worse."

They grinned at the gnarled one. "Clever human. Now go away."

They felt Alpha reaching for them, and they lurched away, growling deep in warning. "Poison."

They made certain Alpha watched them retract their claws and spikes and shrink their teeth before they padded over to let him place them back on his shoulders. They gummed at his fingertips happily once they were settled.

"Okay, claws, teeth, and spikes are dangerous." He suddenly squashed her head against his chest. "But you're so awesome!"

"I've seen similar spikes on different ocean fish for latent defense. They're usually filled with neurotoxins. I'll get your food, everyone, and a new table."

"And sake, dartboard brow!"

"Stuff it, you overgrown plant! The lovely Ryuko may like you, but your dumb ass will get what I damn well serve! All of the men have to pay! And you owe us for the table you shitty marimo. The lovely ladies are on the house, my dears."

They could feel Beta's annoyed anger at Peacock before Beta shouted, "How is the table my fault?!"

That was settled. They would keep Peacock. He was entertaining and good for Beta to relax.

"Thank you, Sanji-kun!"

They were falling back into darkness. Maybe there was a pot big enough in the kitchen for them to nap in later?


	5. Chapter Four

_Chapter 4 - Hawk_

 _Edited: 11/12/2017_

 _Posted: 4/2016_

* * *

They shot awake when they felt the Hawkeye's presence. They should have felt him long ago, but they had been distracted and exhausted from the Other escaping.

Alpha was still holding them. His hand was gripped tightly around their tail where it circled his chest to hold them in place on his shoulders.

Alpha was tense. Afraid.

They rose on Alpha's shoulders to see Beta and Hawkeye.

Hawkeye had a mockingly small blade blocking Beta's three katana's.

Oh, Beta.

They were too groggy to focus on the words, but they didn't need to. It was written in his body, tone, and aura. It hurt their heart to see Beta breaking under the realization of how very small he was in the world. How far he had to climb.

{Fool. A lesson.}

[The Hawk may kill him for the learning,] they snapped back, growling low as they unwrapped from Alpha's shoulders.

{Deserve it for not acknowledging a stronger predator.}

They thunked to the wood at Alpha's feet with a grumble. They stretched slowly, unwinding their aura at the same time. While human slept so deep they normally kept their presence hidden. Outside the Grand Line such caution was normally not needed, but they were glad of the practice as it meant they could surprise Hawkeye.

They flopped to the wood after their stretch, body sprawled out. They were too tired to be moving like this. It was going to make human sleep longer than the feral already had that day.

They wanted human back. They didn't like being alone with the feral and the wall and its thoughts on their _pit_.

{You picked these. No self preservation. No haki. No skills for surviving. Beta will impress the Hawkeye or he will die.}

[Shut up. Not like it knows self preservation.]

The feral snarled at them in a rare show of temper, scratching ceaselessly at the crack in the wall in retaliation.

Seas damn it, they couldn't stop Beta's stupidity. And of course Beta's dream would be to become the World's Greatest Swordsman. Why not, with an Alpha who wanted to be Pirate King?

Her _pit_ was a group who did not accept second best.

Trying to end the fight would ensure Beta could never stand before Hawkeye again.

Letting the fight run its course would very likely end in Beta dying, no matter whose protection he was under. Unless he managed to somehow impress Hawkeye despite his loss in the fight-because Beta _would_ lose. That was inevitable. The Hawk wasn't even trying.

Beta was moving his three blades with an unrestrained skill. Clumsy, sloppy, and wasteful. He was like a toddler compared to Hawkeye's economic movements.

Hawkeye was not even out of breath as he spoke to her. "What are you doing hiding here, queen? We assumed you had broken irreparably over the years and were no longer among the living after you left your main hunting grounds."

He parried every one of Beta's swings without moving more than an inch. As he spoke. While he looked at her.

They sat up on their haunches, coming to Hawkeye's chest level where the two swordsman fought feet away.

Beta froze for a split second. They could feel him lost in emotion. Whether it was from his own realization at being outclassed or shock at Hawkeye addressing them, they did not know.

The result was final either way. Hawkeye broke Beta's guard and snapped a flat hand into the back of Beta's neck.

It could easily have been a killing blow with the dagger instead.

Beta had lost.

They tilted their head as they watched Beta fall to the deck. The important lessons left memories in the mind, not the flesh.

"What are you doing with these children?" Hawkeye had crossed his arms over his chest to face her now. He had turned his back to Beta.

They let out a deep growl, letting their teeth drop in half way and an aura of warning fill the air between.

"New _pit_. Worthy. Purpose."

Hawkeye's expression did not change, but he radiated confused disbelief nonetheless. He didn't bat an eye at their sudden ability to speak.

"Truly? Them? They have no bounties. They haven't seen the world yet."

Hawkeye turned with a frown to face a staggering Beta. Beta lunged with a blade, and Hawkeye fluidly side-stepped the lackluster attack. Beta fell to the deck again.

Hawkeye threw out a mocking hand at Beta as he looked at them. "They can't hope to defend themselves, let alone support you." He uncrossed his arms to stand and radiate disapproval. "I'm going to have to share the news of your continued existence. And I hope you know I blame you for the sulking since you left with no word. I expect to be repaid for dealing with that overgrown child."

They eyed Beta. He was panting, katanas gripped tight between his teeth and in his fists. Coming to terms with his defeat. It was not easy to accept how weak you were when faced with a greater foe you could not hope to beat, even had they been near dead, deafened, _and_ blinded.

They withdrew their teeth as Hawkeye watched them and twitched their upper body in a shrug.

"Fair. But our _pit_. Ours."

That was a fair trade. Human had left the New World with no warning when they started to slide further into their mind. Red Hair would have been concerned. And Old Beta.

Hawkeye turned back to Beta. "You. Weakling. What is it you wish to achieve by becoming the World's Greatest? What do you seek with that power?"

{Beta will live or die by this answer.}

They were still.

[We know.]

Beta stood through will alone to face Hawkeye.

"I cannot lose."

They could feel the tension in the crowd. Alpha was barely restraining himself. Alpha knew what this meant for Beta. He could not interfere in Beta's attempt at the title, no matter the outcome.

Beta moved in for a final attack.

Three times he had tried...And three times he failed. This time he had a dagger in the chest to show for it. Right over his heart.

And yet Beta did not step back. Did not flinch.

"Do you wish for this blade to pierce your heart? Why do you not step back?"

"I don't know. If I take one step back, I believe that all of the oaths and promises until now will be wasted. And I'll never get to stand before you again."

"Yes, and that's called 'losing.' "

The feral chuffed in amusement.

They lashed their tail.

Beta huffed out a bitter laugh. "That's why I can't step back."

Hawkeye was intrigued. They could feel him assessing Beta. "Even if it means death?"

"Death may be better."

The feral was not laughing now.

Hawkeye was impressed. He pulled the dagger from Beta's chest and stepped back.

They did not relax. Beta was not safe yet.

"Announce your name."

Beta stood tall. "Roronoa Zoro."

"I'll remember that. It's been some time since I've seen such strong will. As a reward-a gesture to a fellow swordsman-I will wield this Black Sword to end your life."

"I appreciate it."

And Beta truly did. Beta knew he faced death if his last attempt failed, and he was strong in the face of defeat. He was sincere in his attempt.

{Ours.}

They hissed out loud at the claim. Hawkeye's gaze flickered to them.

"I will kill him as a swordsman's honor, even if it means dying at your hands, queen."

Their eyes snapped to Hawkeye, and he must have sensed the change. He knew of their problems after the Break. His attention shifted to them completely.

The feral battered at the wall. They felt the echo of the earlier crack with a physical ache, heard the sound of splitting stone and sheared metal in their mind as it expanded.

They dropped to the ground, claws reflexively digging into wood and shredding it like paper. Teeth and spikes slid out as they fought off the sudden wash of possessive anger.

Their aura rolled across the deck. Beta grunted, Hawkeye frowned, and they heard bodies hitting wood behind them as the weaker in the crowd fell to their knees.

{Our Beta. Worthy. Success or death. Ours. Mine. _Keepuseprotecthoard._ }

Human shifted in their head. Human could not wake. They would all die.

How had the feral cracked the wall so wide?

They shoved back against the emotion spilling forward. Bloodlust, rage, possessiveness.

They had to do something.

[Share. Beta yours. Theta and Omega theirs.]

The feral paused. Thought.

{Alpha. Want Alpha. Feel him.}

Yes, they could feel it. Alpha was barely contained. His will had to be immeasurable because only will would keep him unmoving while he watched his first mate die.

[Fair. Yes. Alpha and Beta. They get Omega and Theta.]

{Yes.}

They did not even bother negotiating with Sigma. Sigma was theirs, human's, the feral's, every fractured piece and part held rights to the Sigma...utterly and completely. Body, mind, and soul.

There was a pleased hiss as the battering emotion withdrew. They sucked in their aura with a deep breath.

As soon as it receded Hawkeye attacked.

Beta's two katanas shattered.

Beta stood with his arms out before Hawkeye.

"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame."

Hawkeye smirked. "Well said."

The Black Sword descended, cutting deep across Beta's chest. Blood sprayed into the air as Beta's body tipped into the sea.

Their Alpha and crew shouted. The sounds were drowned out under the keen of the feral's rage in their mind.

They slid into the waves without thought.

[He lives. Not fatal.]

They chanted the words over and over, trying to calm the flood of _ragehatehurtprotectshelterhealhide_ from the feral in their mind.

Human tossed restlessly in the sleep.

They caught Beta's shirt in their claws carefully, bringing him back onto the deck with a shove. Alpha had attacked Hawkeye while they were under the waves, and he stood near the swordsman now.

"Ryuko, Other, you got him!"

They did not realize they were standing between Hawkeye and Beta, a subvocal growl a constant warning, until Alpha spoke. They had their tail coiled protectively around Beta's wrist.

They looked up and trilled at Alpha, demeanor shifting completely. Their claws and teeth retracted as Alpha dropped to his knees at Beta's side.

They watched Hawkeye observe them.

"You, boy. What do you wish to achieve."

Alpha barely glanced at Hawkeye. "I'm going to be the Pirate King."

Hawkeye laughed. "Your dream is even loftier than your friend's."

Alpha stuck his tongue out at him in childish anger. "Let me worry about that."

Hawkeye looked at Beta, and they growled audibly. "Ours," they bit out.

Hawkeye stared at them. "I did not kill him, queen. You know this." He paused to watch them stand coiled between him and Alpha and Beta.

"You will make it up to that drunk for leaving. I'll expect ten cases of my favorite wine delivered."

They would have commented on who was the drunk there, but let it go.

"Red Hair's gamble is ours. Nothing to owe him. Have wine. Leave." They snapped their teeth at Hawkeye and turned away from him. A clear dismissal.

They did not gut him in retaliation for Beta.

He was lucky old Theta viewed him as a mate and he still carried Red Hair's scent or the Other would have anyway.

Beta came back to consciousness and they shut their eyes against the dull thud of pain. The bond was already forming, deepening once the feral had accepted their new _pit_ completely.

They did not miss Hawkeye's parting words.

"I was wrong in my judgement, queen. You have chosen well. I look forward to seeing how they grow under your care. We will be meeting again."

When Alpha placed them in the small boat with Beta to find Loud Woman they tucked themselves into Beta's side to rest their head next to his own.

An Alpha who dreamed of being King and a Beta who dreamed of being the World's Best. They had certainly chosen well.

{Ours.}

* * *

Zoro ignored the burning pain in his chest.

And the warm blood dripping down his stomach.

And the cooling blood at his sides where he lay on the deck of the small boat.

This was too important.

He focused on the weight of Riyo's or Ryuko's or whatever-Luffy-wanted-to-call-her's tail where it lay on his thigh, holding him still. Her head was on his shoulder, away from the slash but protective of the wound as she intently watched Usopp stitch his insides back where they belonged. For all the intent, though, she looked like she was barely conscious.

That made two of them at least.

He had understood that there was something off about Riyo as soon as he saw her change back at the marine base. Someone that looked like a child-sized walking skeleton shouldn't have still been breathing. But to see how she handled the old geezer at the restaurant, and the infamous Hawkeye-it brought a new perspective.

He wasn't on her level. He wasn't on the same playing field. He wasn't even on the same planet as her...or Hawkeye.

She had threatened Hawkeye. Hawkeye had believed her.

Hawkeye, the World's Greatest Swordsman-and what did that make Riyo?-, had only been toying with him.

No, Zoro was a big fish in the small pond of East Blue and he needed to work harder than ever in order to protect the crew. He would make sure Luffy became the Pirate King. He'd need Riyo for that; he'd need her to train him. He needed to push himself more than ever to train his body harder.

He would earn the right to protect Luffy and the crew and his own dream to be the World's Greatest through this new humility and a greater dedication.

He grit his teeth as Usopp hit a tender spot across his ribs.

As soon as he could move again.


	6. Chapter Five

_Chapter 5 - Theta_

 _Edited: 11/12/2017_

 _Posted: 4/2016_

* * *

They were drug from sleep by a firm tug of instinct. Again.

They blinked as the world swam around them from exhaustion.

They shouldn't be awake.

The last thing they remembered was falling asleep with Beta in their boat; they should have slept for another week at least after everything the Other had done and the fight.

They shifted restlessly on bony but oddly squishy shoulders.

Their instinct was clanging. Something was wrong and it had dragged them from what was a near coma.

It took them a minute more to realize they were wrapped around Alpha's shoulders and then Alpha was crouching down by another human on the ground as the world swirled.

Their surroundings slowly stopped whirling now that Alpha was still. Then the salty tang of blood and tears reached their nose.

They finally realized who the human was.

Loud woman.

She dug the knife in her hand deeper into her own shoulder.

The pain made them instinctively recoil. Not physical; nothing physical could make an aura scream like that.

Loud Woman...Broken Woman. So, so broken. Pieces shattered and taped and glued together again and again and again; now they were too small to fix and they knew what that felt like, to know how broken you were.

They watched a rivulet of blood drip off her elbow and onto the ground.

They were awake now.

Angry and awake.

Alpha held the hand and stopped the knife. The blade glittered in the sun as it dropped to her side.

Then they saw the lines of the tattoo beneath the blood.

They understood what that mark was.

They understood the need to carve it out of your skin.

Subjugation. Servitude. Suppression.

Slave. Property. Tool.

Cage.

Cage.

Cage.

Memories surged and the pain. The pain, the cries. They couldn't help them; they couldn't stop them.

{ _Never!}_ the feral snarled in their mind.

They dug paws into Luffy's chest, squeezed tighter with their tail. They wanted to sink teeth into their tail but they stopped for Loud Woman's sake.

"Help me, Luffy."

The words were ripped from Loud Woman's heart to swirl into the voices in their head, all of the voices they couldn't save.

Lost in the voices and thoughts, they didn't notice Alpha moving right away.

He gave Hat to Loud Woman. Alpha gave his treasure.

[Never again,] they agreed with the feral.

Nami. Their Navigator. Their Theta. _Pit_. Theirs.

They could save Theta, here and in the present. They would not let Theta be alone-alone and enslaved for all that they could not see the chains.

Theta was their rock. Alpha was good in his own way when it mattered, and Beta was their physical strength. But Theta...Theta helped in all the ways that mattered in the heart and in the mind every day.

Emotional and mental pain broke you from the inside in a way physical pain could never touch. Bruises healed, but they knew too well how the mind twisted in and around and up and down.

Theta understood. They would fix this for Theta and Theta would help fix them and human and Other.

* * *

They did not remember blacking out again.

They woke to Alpha punching a shark fishman into a wall.

They threw out their power. They were surrounded by fishmen. Angry, arrogant fishman who had hurt their Theta.

Shocked fishman who stared at their Alpha's audacity.

Good. Theta was theirs.

They did not care the fishmen were ocean brothers and distant cousins. They hurt and caged their Theta. They did not know how, but Theta's pain had bled into the foundation of this place.

They raised their head slowly from Alpha's shoulder.

Murmurs broke out around them as the fishmen saw what they were.

Alpha did not take his attention from the shark fishman. Alpha and they knew the shark was the Alpha here.

They also knew he was a fool if he got up again.

"My peace and protection to you, queen."

They turned their head to look at the voice. An octopus fishman. He was bowed respectfully to them; the only one who had. He was also the only one to offer the traditional words.

"Polite." The murmurs grew louder at her words. Few sea queens chose to speak in their true form. Too much cost for too little reward.

They narrowed their eyes on the octopus. "And ignorant. Leave," they growled.

They pushed out a focused wave of intent. The intent to exact revenge. The intent to hunt, rend, tear, destroy, devour, and _obliterate_ those who touched their Theta.

The octopus was stupid and young. He could do much better with his life if he still held such manners. He was misguided and foolish, but not cruel.

The octopus fell to his knees, his arms barely holding his face from planting in the concrete.

"Leave, and we may one day forgive you," they hissed.

They lifted the intent and he did crumple to the ground. He was still conscious, if frozen in fear and exhaustion. Impressive.

The shark moved in the rubble. Their attention shifted to watch the fishman Alpha from the corner of their vision.

Then the fishman Alpha spoke.

It was the stupidest thing he could have done.

"You! _Human_." He spit the word at Alpha like a curse. "You humans think you can keep us as _pets_?"

The shark stood from the crater Alpha had made of his body.

"Do you think we're animals you can _control_? Do you even know what she is?" Arlong gestured angrily at them.

"She's our nakama," Alpha answered. Alpha's voice was hard and unforgiving, so unlike his normal self, and yet as much like Alpha as his laughter. "She's Ryuko. And you hurt Nami our navigator. That's all I need to know."

"We need," they corrected.

Alpha nodded. "All _we_ need to know to kick your ass."

And that was a statement of fact from Alpha to Alpha. A threat to their _pit_. They couldn't help the approving thrumming.

{Mine,} the feral snarled at them, jealous of their approval for Alpha.

"And Theta is mine," they snapped back.

Everyone stopped to look at them. Except Alpha. Alpha was too pissed off by the shark Alpha.

Their _pit_ would have to get used to their words. They all slipped sometimes between their head and outside it.

"Octopus. Stay or leave?" they asked suddenly.

"Hachi. Hachi, queen," the octopus grunted as he pushed himself into a kneeling position. He pressed his forehead to the ground in a formal bow. "I will return home and pursue my dream of owning a takoyaki stand! One day I hope to have earned the forgiveness for what has happened here."

"Hachi," the shark snarled.

Hachi and they ignored him. And they knew Alpha was serious as well when he didn't even blink at the mention of food.

As simple as that the octopus stood and dove into the nearby pool that fed into the sea. They made sure he swam in the right direction for Fishman Island before they were satisfied.

"Kuroobi! Bring him back!" the shark snapped.

The shark had their attention. They turned to watch the ray fishman.

"Move and die," they countered.

The ray looked confused. He took a shuffling step and then stopped as Beta drew a blade to level it at him. The ray glanced at Beta's bandaged chest in disbelief. Beta smirked.

"Kuroobi! Move now or I'll feed you to Mohmoo! This queen accepts humans into her _pit_. Are you going to listen to me or a hatchling who doesn't know our history?"

They froze. All of the fishmen did. Even Alpha tensed at the sudden atmosphere, although he and Beta and Peacock and Chew Toy were confused as to the cause.

"Hatchling?" Alpha asked.

They did not say anything as they uncoiled themselves from Alpha's body.

They slid to the ground silently.

They walked until they were only a few feet from the shark.

"Alpha found us. They chose their pit as they have always chosen. Their _human_ Alpha. _Their human_ Beta. _Their human_ Theta. Their pit is better in every way than the fishmen left here. And you hurt their Theta. _Cage their Theta._ Insult the feral's Alpha and Beta."

They sat up on their hind legs to look at the shark closer. The feral pushed forward and they let it, let the rage bleed into their aura as teeth and claws slid out.

"We are many, shark." Their voice deepened and layered with the feral as they spoke. "We are unforgiving. We are patient and fell and savage and hardened with age." Their aura pressed harder and harder on the shark Alpha until one knee buckled under the weight of it and he was left half-kneeling before them. "And we," they hissed, "do not suffer hubris."

They gathered all of their energy and shaved behind the shark.

They wrapped their tail around him.

"For your insult to we and the _pit_ we will not forgive you."

Anyone that threatened their _pit_ would pay. Fishmen, merfolk, human, giant, sea king, mink, and whatever else claimed the seas home. It did not matter what it was or how big it thought it was.

Immediately, eventually, some day, one day, but _always_ inevitably, anyone that harmed their _pit_ would pay.

Because they were always going to be bigger, smarter, and meaner.

The world had forgotten sea queens. They would remind them why they should fear their name.

They squeezed tighter and tighter. The shark clawed at their tail but the attacks slid off their scales harmlessly. They squeezed until they heard the shark's ribs crack. Then they squeezed more.

Finally satisfied, they spun and whipped his body over their head and back into the crater Alpha had already made along the wall.

They shaved once more, using the movement to swipe their tail with a whistle across the shark's chest before he could move.

The crack as his skin split diagonally was nearly lost by his yowl of pain.

"Alpha, kick his ass," the muttered tiredly. Sleep. They needed rest.

"Right," Luffy grunted.

They turned to walk back to the gate in the wall. They could see Theta there.

They were so tired. But they had to be strong.

{Eat him,} the feral snarled.

"Human made them promise not to eat people anymore," they grumbled.

"What is with you and eating people?" Chew Toy yelled.

From where he hid at the top of the wall.

The feral snorted in amusement.

"Once I kick his ass then the Other can maybe eat him if it wants to," Luffy threw back at them. The shark was still dragging himself out of the crater. "We'll leave it up to Nami."

The ray fish that had been standing nearby looked green at Alpha's words-mostly because Alpha was being sincere.

They grinned at Alpha, and it was the Other's too-wide smirk even without the teeth. "Theta's choice. Good."

They walked through the gate as they heard the shark finally shifting out of the rubble. Alpha was ready for the shark.

The crowd of humans outside the walls all backed up at their approach-all but Theta. Theta seemed to be frozen staring at them and nervously clutched Alpha's hat on her head.

They did not even pause as they shoved up against Theta, crawling up her like growing seaweed. Theta wasn't expecting the hug and they ended up in a tangled heap on the ground.

They curled their whole body around Theta there, keeping her safe. They began crooning to their Theta, soothing and low.

A nest would be better to hoard Theta while they healed. Theta _and_ Beta who was stupidly fighting with his guts barely held in. They could defend and protect a nest much better, but this would have to do.

They shouldn't have pushed so much. They were going to need to sleep almost as deep as human.

But it had been worth it.

They thrummed happily as they held Theta close and drifted deep into the sleep again.

* * *

Nami watched Luffy throw her worst memories out the top window of Arlong Tower. It felt like the years of being forced to write his maps were fading into a horrible, hazy dream as the tools shattered on the ground.

The time was not forgotten, but it was in the past and no longer a waking nightmare.

Then the tower cracked and shuddered.

Nami sat in the dirt and hugged Ryuko's warm, smooth body around her shoulders and in her lap like a favored stuffed toy as the tears streamed down her face.

She watched Arlong Tower fall to rubble with Luffy's hat in her hands and Ryuko's...everything...wrapped tight around her like a scaly, breathing blanket.

Ryuko wrapped her tail around her stomach tighter, as if she could sense the bittersweet emotion. It was tight enough Nami could feel each breath she took against the coiled muscle.

The weight grounded her. It reminded Nami that she was protected by the fiercest being in the seas.

Ryuko was a myth-a creature of legend lost to time.

Sea queens were the boogieman of the fishmen. Nami was clutching the nightmare of her nightmares; a nightmare that could fling the worst of the fishmen around while still healing from her deathbed.

Ryuko should have terrified Nami.

Ryuko puffed out a warm breath through her nose that heated Nami's shoulder as her purring deepened.

Nami hadn't ever felt safer.


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter 6 - Omega

Edited: 12/01/2017

Posted: 4/2016

* * *

Riyo never remembered much of her time in somnum, even when her mind had been sound.

Now any memories she had of her healing time were like dreams and hallucinations when she woke.

Some pieces were vivid, replayed in excruciating detail. Some memories were cloudy or faded like they happened years ago rather than days or weeks. And some were surreal, drifting away or slipping and sliding around until she couldn't remember what was the truth and what had been imagined in the beast's mind-flashes of emotion to tell the tale. The beast was so driven by instinct it was hard to tell reality from its perception of the world.

So when Riyo came to in a freezing castle and to a familiar aura from the Before, she is confused. Very confused. She had made a solemn promise to herself to never talk to the hag again.

Then the memories started. There were flashes of terrifying images of her pit in the strangest danger from the last few months. Fighting Mihawk, fighting bounty hunters, fighting fishmen, Alpha on an execution platform, fighting a logia marine, Old Omega with a massive whale, killer rabbits, dinosaurs, giants, climbing a vertical mountain…she can't decide what's real or not.

The Grand Line was weird, but that was a little much even for her. If that had all actually happened...well. She could have handled her wake up from somnum better.

A lot better.

She finds Nami first, sleeping in the room next to hers. Riyo is wearing a set of simple white cotton clothes, baggy pants and a long sleeved shirt that someone must have dressed her in. Somehow whoever it was knew not to put socks on her. Overall the outfit was comfortable and functional in the cool air and Riyo wanted to rip it off because only the hag would know all of that.

The stone is cold on her soles as she darts over to Nami's bed, thinking nothing of climbing onto the covers to run hands over Nami's exposed neck and head as the blankets had been pulled almost to her Theta's chin.

She could feel the fading temperature; see it in the cooling sweat on her forehead.

She shoved her face into Nami's neck. Tangy sweat, sweet citrus, salt-kissed wind, and aged paper. She breathed it in deeply. It was already committed to her mind from the beast, she only had to solidify it as Riyo.

Nami almost dying had been real then, which meant Luffy and Sanji were here.

[Omega.]

...and her new Omega? When the hell did that happen?

[Lonely, so lonely and sad and alone. Afraid, but healed us. Little fur hatchling. Our Omega.]

{Smells like prey.}

"Son of a bitch," Riyo hissed out loud. The Other was talking.

Fuck.

The Other was talking.

She realized the lack of incessant scratching. There was no growling or pacing. The Other was calm and attentive-if razorblades and barbed wire decorated with broken glass could be described as calm.

{Stupid human.}

Riyo knew she looked insane as she parked her ass on Nami's bed and froze with her mouth hanging open.

The Other was being civil (for it). It had never bothered to spit more than a few derogatory words at her before. Now it was actually commenting.

What the hell happened? she snapped at the beast.

[Fight. Share. Alpha and Beta for feral. Theta and Omega theirs.]

"Okay," she said out loud. "Okay, I can deal with my alternate personalities splitting my pit for some reason."

Wait, you actually fought the Other? she asked the beast.

Because that was weirder than fishmen in the East Blue, a prehistoric island, and holiday bounty hunters combined.

{Beast stubborn over human. Grew a spine}, the Other answered with barely concealed contempt.

Probably because it lost. She giggled breathlessly to herself.

They were all so screwed

The beast growled at the Other in retaliation, although it lacked any true threat.

"Fuckin' seas," she muttered as she rubbed the heel of her palm into one temple.

"Um...who are you talking to?"

Riyo jumped. She needed to pay more attention. She could deal with the Other and the beast later.

The voice was young, curious, and a little timid.

Her new Omega.

She shaved before the creature could be startled away, disappearing from the bed and appearing behind him. It felt good to be healthy and moving again. She'd need to rebuild some of her muscle tone, she was sluggish and slow, but she had been sleeping, healing, and getting regular meals for the last few weeks.

She had been on a downslide for so many years she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be on the road to healthy again.

She grabbed the deer-tanuki-raccoon-dog up to crush him to her chest like a favorite teddy bear.

[FLUFFY!]

Wow. That was a lot of possessiveness rolling off the beast.

She rubbed her face into the little guy's fur. She totally agreed though. So fluffy!

She jerked as the little guy grew into a 10-foot tall humanoid. She was left blinking at his pink hat where she clung around his neck and down his back like an unwanted leech.

"Get off me! You can't eat me!"

"Fluffy, no!" she yelled.

Did you try to eat him when we were healing? she hissed at the beast at the same time.

[No! He talked when they were Changed, and he understood them without human words! Healed them. Took to cuddle but didn't EAT their Omega!]

"What the-who the hell are you people?"

"Ah! The patient is awake! Doctorine!" Omega's voice was slightly deeper in his larger body as he spoke to Nami.

The navigator did look confused.

And Riyo knew that hag was here.

"We just, want, cuddles!" Riyo shouted as he tried to shake her off his neck.

"Get off of me! I'm a doctor, not a stuffed toy! And I'm not equipped with the proper medical supplies to deal with a rabid psychiatric patient!"

"...Riyo?"

Riyo glanced up as the fluffy tried to reach his arms behind his head to yank her off. She was actually having fun. It was almost like sea king riding in the Calm Belt.

[Fun!]

"Hey, Nami! I hope you're feeling better!"

"Uh, if I'm not hallucinating from the fever again...then sure."

The navigator did look confused. Riyo could understand how this might seem a bit surreal.

Riyo tensed when she felt the presence looming behind her and the fluffy. She dropped from the tanuki and spun in the air to face the threat as she landed on her feet. Her body naturally took an aggressive stance as she saw the face of Kureha.

"I'm here, Chopper. Glad to see the patient isn't dead. And hello, ungrateful snake."

Riyo snarled and punched the crazy witch bitch in her damn hook nose.

The cheap shot laid the old hag out on the stone floor for all of two seconds.

A scalpel whistled past Riyo's ear and cut off a hunk of her hair. Kureha was grinning at her madly from the floor.

"Doctorine!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

Yeah. Her wake up could have gone better.

* * *

Chopper wasn't sure what was going on. Doctorine had locked herself in her office with the crazy lizard woman that she told Chopper was a sea queen.

A sea queen! A sea queen that Doctorine somehow knew and that had attacked her.

What was Doctorine thinking?

The other humans had gone outside to fight, and Chopper really needed to join them soon, but he wanted to know what was happening with the sea queen, Riyo. She had some sort of unhealthy obsession with him for some reason.

His ears twitched as he heard fighting start outside the castle, but he focused on the conversation in the room.

"Listen here, snake. I don't care what you think; _there was no saving him_. I couldn't have done anything! Crocus consulted me, we agreed there was no cure. His choices were his own. That is something you're more than old enough to know; you should respect his decision!"

There was an animalistic snarl, something no human could possibly make. It made Chopper's every instinct flare to life with 'predator, run!' He caught himself backing up before he froze again as the heated conversation turned to shouting.

"There was no logic to it! For all his temper our Alpha _always_ had a plan, even one as simple as 'kick their ass.' We understand our Omega did all he could, Alpha was dying. But for Alpha to choose something so public-"

Chopper jumped as Riyo's voice cut off and there was the loud crack of wood splitting and shattering. The only wood in there was the heavy desk and a side table...

"Shut up, I know it's Old Alpha- _and_ Old Omega. Goddammit-no, I don't care! Enough you two!"

"-makes no sense! I know you know why. Tell me!"

Chopper blinked. It was like there were two different conversations going on. He had suspected she had some sort of psychiatric issue but something as debilitating as multiple personalities?

It had definitely been her voice, but more hushed and hissed, like she meant to be speaking to herself. Then she went back to shouting at Doctorine as if the break in the conversation hadn't happened at all.

As if she didn't realize she had spoken aloud in the middle of the argument.

"It is not my place to say," Kureha replied evenly. "If you do not know then he did not wish you to-precisely for this reason. Your mind is not sound. He knew what would happen if you survived the breaking of the bonds as he asked you to." There was silence after the words. Then quieter, so quiet Chopper had to take a few steps closer. "You spoke out loud to them, just now. Did you even realize it?"

There was a tense moment before Chopper heard Riyo curse quietly in response.

"How many pieces did you have to rip out and stitch together to survive his death? How many more are buried in the dark waiting to be free? You don't need more on your shoulders. You've carried too much for too long and you've got so long to go. You're still Unsettled."

" _You have no right to say that._ " The sound of wood clattering and splintering against the stone wall made Chopper flinch. "I've survived more in three and a half centuries, watching Sigmas come and go, than you can wrap your human mind around," she snarled.

Tense silence filled the room. Chopper knew he could be naive, but even he could sense the unspoken history. Riyo and Doctorine must have known each other for a long time. Doctorine obviously knew more about Riyo than she was saying.

Someone sighed. "The past is the past now, for all the grudges I still rightfully hold. And as much as I carry-I deserve it, Kureha.

"I was not a nice being once I was freed. Everyone else broke, in one way or another. We...we never broke. We never submitted. So many died rather than bow."

Riyo's voice was small and haunted with something Chopper could not place. Something he didn't want to face, not when it brought that tone and bitter scent.

"I took out that concentrated hatred and rage on innocents. I have to accept those choices. Choosing to sail with Roger when he found me was a new start. I deserve every second of pain for what I've done and for stealing time that wasn't supposed to be mine. I had every intention of dying, and instead Luffy found me and refused to let me go. Now I have a complete _pit_ again. _I don't deserve them_. I don't deserve a second chance, but I have it nonetheless."

Chopper could hear pacing, claws clicking on stone. Riyo must have changed to some degree from the high emotion. It happened to him sometimes.

"And if Old Alpha kept his silence for the reason I think...if it's what I can't help but hope-please. I'm selfish, possessive, jealous, greedy, and I have dubious morals. _I know this_. But I'm asking you with all of my heart...Tell me. I want every piece of light I can have in this life. All of it. And this time I'm _not_ letting it go. I don't care if my Alpha demands it."

Chopper knew what the answer would be as soon as Riyo finished. Once Doctorine made a promise, she never broke it. No matter what.

Chopper felt bad for Riyo, but he knew she wouldn't get what she needed here. He backed away from the door.

He needed to help fight. As he turned to rush away he caught Kureha's words.

"You may have made poor choices, but I can't say I blame you after what you went through. What all of you went through. But I can't tell you how to live and I simply _can't tell you_. I made a promise. I'm sorry."

The invisible wave of pure _anguish-rage-loneliness-alone_ that swept out from the room and stirred the snow in the hallway made Chopper's mind blank and his body flash into his natural reindeer form.

He wouldn't consciously remember bolting down the stairs. But he would always remember for the rest of his life that moment that was without words.

A second of endless, aching sorrow from one monster to another.


	8. Chapter Seven

_Chapter Seven - Living Human_

 _Updated: 11/2017_

 _Posted: 11/2016_

* * *

Riyo had been in her human form for about a week now.

It was an adjustment for everyone.

Riyo had her instincts and some of Ryuko's memories and the Other's impressions of the crew to set the foundation of friendship and family.

The crew and more importantly her _pit_ -aside from Luffy and barely Zoro-had no context for her outside her true form.

They were all nice enough, but carrying around and cuddling a lizard was different than doing the same with another human. Normal people didn't let random women sleep in their beds because they were cold, or jump on them for impromptu piggy back rides, or crawl into their laps with no warning because they wanted to feel safe.

Sanji wasn't included in those.

Riyo knew it would be an adjustment for everyone, but that didn't make her any more patient.

She had waited two decades to have a _pit_ ; silly human boundaries like personal space weren't going to stop her now.

They were Grand Line pirates. They'd get used to it.

Sanji was the first real issue that came up. As soon as Riyo changed from her true form to her human form-essentially whenever she grew boobs-he lost all sense.

They were clearing the winter climate of Drum. Ever since Kureha stuck her hag hook nose into Riyo's business and made everyone aware of her biology-including Chopper who kept harping on her to keep warm as if she wasn't more than aware of her own limitations-Sanji had been impossible to deal with.

He kept fluttering around her, offering hot chocolate, sweet treats, spiced teas, warm seafood broth, and everything else under the sun. It was polite for the first five minutes. After the 23rd-civil, she would add-"no" to the treats (a "no" that he ignored as against his "chivalrous code as a gentleman" and she had to "eat something, sweet Riyo-chan, to recover your strength"), Riyo had enough.

She was a 358 year old grown woman who had sailed to the end of the Grand Line and was still kicking. She could have snapped Sanji in half and ate him still screaming if she wanted to do it, promise to herself be damned.

Decided, Riyo stood up. They had all gathered for lunch in the kitchen out of the chill air. The lively conversation went trailed off around the table. Sanji even stopped mid-word in his description of a chocolate tort he was so graciously offering to make for her.

Nami frowned. As her Theta, Nami had the best sense of Riyo's emotions-even if it was still the barest sense at this point. "What's wrong, Riyo?"

"Riyo-swan, my dear?"

In answer she methodically removed her winter coat arm by arm, folded it, and placed it on the bench behind her. It was the only concession she had made for the cold to keep Chopper off her back.

She figured crawling into the lit oven may have been a little too soon for the crew.

"Hey, uh, what are you doing, Riyo?"

She glanced at Usopp but didn't stop. She stripped out of her shirt and pants (a borrowed outfit from Kureha made of thick wool and forced on her by a worried Nami). Her scales cascaded into place as fast as the fabric disappeared.

She let the outfit pool on the floor. She put her hands on her hips as she stood in the kitchen in nothing but her scales.

"Uh-uh na-na-na-na-ked…"

Yeah, she figured that would be the only thing to register with Sanji.

She turned sharply on her bare feet and walked out the galley door. She never bothered with underwear or bras even if she had skin on. They were too confining under the human clothes. Her scales kept her small breasts in place anyway as the natural armor never left her vital organs uncovered. Her lungs and primary heart were pretty damn vital ones, and they happened to live under her boobs when she was human.

"Riyo?"

"Riyo, what are you doing?"

She heard the crew calling her back; Luffy, then Nami again. She ignored them.

They all followed her out of the galley and onto the deck as she wanted.

The wind had a bitter bite to it, the sky full of deep gray clouds warning of snow.

The water below would be colder.

She stepped smoothly up on the railing of the Merry, balancing perfectly on the thin banister of wood for a frozen moment before she smirked over her shoulder at the stunned crew and let herself fall into the emptiness beyond.

It was like hitting a frozen pane of glass. She slid into her smallest form as the salty water closed over her head. The Change was seamless from air to sea.

The water wasn't actually as cold as she had expected, but she knew she couldn't stay long in the chill. It was cold enough it would have made a human sluggish in minutes-unconscious in fifteen or less-but a short time would be fine in her larger form.

She Changed again into a medium form, something she hadn't done consciously since the Break.

She paused to get a sense for the larger body. Sea queens grew larger with age; 358 years old wasn't tiny. She still wasn't close to half her full size at three quarters of the length of Merry, but it did feel good to stretch a bit.

She felt the beast beside her as she sunk deeper into her mind to embrace a consciousness closer to her True Change.

[Stretch. Sea. Home.]

The Other rumbled, pushing up at her and the beast, and she built up their shields against it. It would not take this from her, the freedom of losing herself in the sea. It wanted control and it was not welcome. Not right now.

This was for her.

She swam lazy laps around the Merry, darting in and around the ship, her speed as natural as breathing beneath the waves despite her size. The only thing faster than a sea queen in the water was a mermaid.

She let the anger bleed away in the peace of the silence and solitude beneath the surface. It was nice to dive beneath the waves before shooting for the shadow of the ship, to trail in the Merry's wake as she cruised sure and strong on the currents.

Riyo watched the ship and kept her senses tuned into her _pit_. Nami really was an amazing navigator. Riyo would go so far as to say she was one of the best Riyo had ever seen on the Line, especially for being so young.

Riyo wasn't sure how long she had been under, probably no more than an hour, when her core body temperature began to drop noticeably. Time was up.

She dove deep into the water until the ship was a barely-there blur before shooting up.

Riyo shrank as she came closer to the surface. Large to small and into her hybrid form until she broke into air. The movement propelled her clear onto the deck.

She couldn't keep the grin off of her face where she dripped onto the wood. It really had been too long since she swam for the pure pleasure of it-even if it had started as a way to escape Sanji's fawning before she snapped his neck and upset Luffy.

The entire crew was there, everyone talking over one another in shock and amazement.

And then Sanji was bringing her a towel, trying to wrap it around her shoulders to dry her off.

Ridiculous. Sea queen scales were obviously waterproof.

Sanji's fingers brushed her shoulders as he mother henned her, and he was babbling on about her healing state, and...she snapped.

Riyo spun and kicked him hard enough he skipped across the deck twice, flipping ass over elbows before crashing through the kitchen door with the splintering sound of broken wood.

In the frozen stillness on the deck they could all hear Zoro's startled grunt from the galley as the two collided.

There was faint cursing and then Zoro laughing so hard from the galley he could barely breathe.

The immediate sounds of heavy shoes hitting hastily drawn swords wasn't surprising.

She sniffed. Her scales abruptly vibrated off the last of the clinging water droplets much like a dog shaking dry.

She settled the barely damp towel around her shoulders.

Everyone on deck lined up and held up their hands, fingers all open for a perfect 10 score.

Sanji learned to kindly get the hell out of her space from then on.

* * *

Riyo sighed as she stared across the waves from where she was lounging on the deck.

They were on their way to Alabasta thanks to Princess. They apparently picked up the girl somewhere along the holiday-themed-and-numbered bounty hunter portion of their journey and agreed to help her with a civil war brewing in her country.

That was a sentence she never thought she'd have to put together.

Riyo didn't particularly care about Princess. Princess wasn't _pit_ and she wasn't crew and she was decidedly too naive if she thought they could stop a civil war. Riyo had half-assed listened to 10 minutes of her story and figured that much out.

Riyo had no interest in helping not- _pit_ in such a pointless endeavor.

But Luffy had insisted they were going to help out, so they would tag along out of respect for their Alpha. She would show up and pretend to enjoy herself, but she didn't plan on lifting a finger.

[Do we have to?]

 _Yes._

{Yes.}

The beast grumbled to be denied in double.

For Riyo it was still disconcerting to hear the Other speaking so freely-and to be agreeing, no less.

 _It is for Alpha_ , she explained. _We will not engage, only ensure Princess keeps her fool head on her shoulders during the battle because we all know there's going to be one._

The Other snorted. {It is for power and blood and terror. All humans should tremble before us. All species should bow to us. The world has forgotten our power!}

The beast inched away from the Other's overbearing presence as its blood thirsty aura swept through their mind at the thought of subjugating the world to its will.

Riyo sighed deeper.

Glad to know things were still somewhat normal.

* * *

Sanji had been a problem before.

Nami and Chopper were a problem now.

The two had the most to adjust to with Riyo human-shaped again. As her Theta and Omega and with Ryuko's claim they were her go to for cuddles and comfort. Luffy and Zoro were for the Other-they were for outside defenses for the _pit_. Nami and Chopper were for internal comfort and health.

Nami was coming around, and Riyo had a plan to get her all the way there, but she was at a stalemate with Chopper.

The hatchling avoided her. Really avoided her, especially after the little temper tantrum with Sanji. It wasn't even subtle avoiding, although she didn't think the zoan knew subtle after living with Kureha for so long.

He was relatively normal, if tense, if there was someone else in the room. But as soon as they were alone he'd freeze. She would stare at him stare at her until either she moved away or he could find another exit from the room. He'd jog backwards away from her, never taking his eyes off of her.

He wouldn't speak, hardly even breathe, as he made his escape.

She'd laugh her ass off if it didn't make her hearts ache.

She knew Chopper would be more sensitive to her beast. Maybe kidnapping and cuddling him as Ryuko without any explanation for why was mildly traumatizing for him.

And then there was that moment after she first woke from somnum and tried to cuddle him herself, also forcibly, while shouting nonsense like an escaped mental patient….

Huh. These were not good first impressions.

But this had gone on for weeks, and Riyo had to do something.

The death glares she was starting to get from Nami and Zoro promised retribution, if nothing else.

* * *

Riyo made her move the next afternoon. They were less than a week out from Alabasta by Nami's calculations and she wanted this taken care of before they were in a battle scenario that may rely on the hatchling trusting them.

She dropped down into the boys' room with a purposeful thump when she could have been silent. The trap door shut behind her.

She had been waiting for Chopper to come into the room alone all day. He couldn't bolt for the door here because he had to climb the ladder to the deck that she was in front of. And if he happened to scream when she startled him by landing behind him no one heard as the hatch dropped into place.

Or more likely they heard and chose to ignore it to see how this played out.

"Chopper."

He was frozen with his backpack clutched in one...hoof...hand...paw? Whatever. His eyes were huge and the pupils were blown wide; she could visibly see his muscles tremble with how tight he held himself. He was poised to flee but she blocked the only exit.

She sighed before letting go of her human form and folding to the floor in her smallest change. They were far enough from Drum now that the weather had evened out and she could get away with only her scales for cover which meant she didn't have to worry about awkwardly crawling out of any shirts or dresses.

(Sanji had adjusted to the near-nudity as well as could be expected. After copious amounts of Zoro's jeering for his pervert ways and hourly doses of Riyo's "cognitive recalibration" where she bashed his thick skull they had made some decent progress with Sanji's innate need to throw himself at women.)

"Ee-chp!"

The strangled noise had her laughing-snorting and coughing with growling mixed in for this form-so hard she fell to her back, clawless paws waving in the air.

"Don't laugh at me, you bastard!"

Finally.

She tilted her head to look at Chopper upside down. Her tongue lulled from her mouth without her teeth to hold it in. She was going for cuddly and non threatening, or at least as much as she could. No teeth, no spikes, no claws, and in her smallest possible form belly-up. She was as helpless as a sea queen could get.

She gave Chopper a gummy smile.

His mouth was pulled in a pout and his little hooves were on his hips. How fucking adorable could he be?!

She tried the next step in her plan.

"I just want to talk, Chopper."

"I'm not afraid of you!" was the instant, indignant response.

She stared at him until he wilted a bit. She twisted around to lay on her stomach, head pillowed on her front legs.

The sudden movement made him jump and he visibly flagged.

"OK, I'm afraid. I can't help it! I'm a prey animal and Usopp told me how you tried to eat him before I joined you guys and even Luffy and Zoro say how strong you are and you don't mean to do it but even if they can't feel it I can feel your aura even though you keep it suppressed and it scares me how much leaks out even though you control it because how strong are you really if it's still there and then that only makes me more frightened and it's all I can think about and my instincts are on alert and-"

It was like dam had broke as the words tumbled out. Riyo simply stared at him as he kept going until she had to interrupt or he was going to faint.

"Take a breath, Chopper."

He stopped abruptly to suck in a huge breath.

"Easy. There you go." She shook her head in exasperation. "Come here."

He hesitated a moment before creeping slowly next to her. When he was close enough she reached her tail out slowly to wrap around him, pulling him down until he was tucked into her side. He struggled for a moment before going limp with another shaky breath. She pointedly ignored the scent of nervous fear and wrapped herself around him.

"It's so easy to forget how young you all are. Usopp exaggerates. A lot."

Although Usopp was kind of being honest about the whole eating him thing….But Usopp wasn't a part of her _pit_. Chopper was her Omega even before Luffy had asked him to join the crew. He had been similar to Zoro. The beast and the Other had accepted him without a conscious choice on her part.

[Mine.]

"Oh shove it."

"Wha'?" Chopper eeped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean you. The beast, uh, Ryuko is very jealous of you and Nami. It likes to make it clear that you belong to it."

Chopper stared at her for a few seconds. "Are you sure you're okay? Doctorine gave me some great herb mixes that can help stabilize hormones if you're having issues with voices…"

Riyo laughed. " 'Issues with voices' is one way to put it. But trust me, it's nothing herbs or any medicine can fix. I made a choice to do something against the foundations of my species some decades ago and the cost was a fractured psyche. You get used to it. I sometimes-all three of us really-slip and speak out loud instead of in our head."

"...that is really not normal. Or clinically something I can ignore as your attending physician."

She shrugged. What could you do?

"It's a small cost for the chance to sail again with an Alpha and Captain like Luffy. With all of you as _pit_ and crew. You know what I am."

He nodded. "Yeah, Nami said you're a sea queen, and Doctorine gave me the medical history she knew about you and some of her books she-isn't-supposed-to-have-but-don't-tell-her-I-told-you-that on sea queens. She said she's only one of two doctors who know how to treat you in the whole world, and the other one is retired. So Doctorine said I have to learn to take care of you if I want to achieve my dream of curing every disease."

"That's good, Chopper. I know you'll achieve your dream some day. And I knew you would be more sensitive to my beast when you joined the crew. Did Luffy and Zoro tell you how I have certain rules about who I let close to me?"

"Yeah, Luffy said that we're all your friends and you'd protect us all, but him and Zoro and Nami are extra special to you. Your instincts see them as part of your herd and you get super protective of them and only they are allowed to...touch you…."

She thrummed in pleasure as he finally realized she was using him as a cuddly teddy bear while they talked.

"Ah! Don't eat me!" He flailed around while he tried to escape her tail's grip around his waist.

She laughed again, nuzzling her cheek against his, scenting and marking him at the same time. He was too cute when he panicked.

[Mmmm, prey scent. But so cuddly!]

She nearly let her head thump onto the wooden floor in exasperation. They should not enjoy panicked struggling from their Theta this much.

 _Hatchling and our Omega,_ they thought back to the beast patiently.

"We are _pit_. You're my Omega, Chopper. The last piece of my inner _pit_."

[Missing the Sigma! Sigma being the Sigma soon.]

{Omega first, beast.}

[Want the Sigma!]

 _Shut up, both of you! I'm having a heart-to-heart here!_

"What-what does that mean?" The small, hopeful voice nearly broke her heart and dragged her out of her head.

"Being my Omega means you take care of the _pit_ physically, Chopper. You heal us and put us back together when we have to fight to protect each other. You keep us healthy. You're our doctor as much as the crew's."

"Really?!" he squealed, excited at the thought. "I'm a good doctor. Doctorine taught me lots! I can take care of everyone! But...you don't think it's weird to have a talking reindeer doctor with a blue nose in your special herd?"

[The Sigma! Maybe the Sigma for Sigma soon!]

She snarled at the beast's interruption before shoving it behind its mental door.

"Oh."

She came back to the outside world to the bitter scent of crushed hope.

Chopper had definitely gotten the wrong idea.

She remembered the self-disgust, loneliness, and resentment in his little body. His own kind turned on him. Humans shunned him.

' _I'm a monster! No one likes me! Go away, stupid humans!'_ rang in her ears. A memory from the beast because the bitch liked to throw their own words in their face when they were sulking and locked up.

Riyo had said very much the same to Roger when he asked her to join him-only with a lot more teeth to back it up.

She sighed. "No, no, no. Not you, Chopper, I was yelling at Ryuko. The beast can get a one-track mind and got stuck off topic on something completely _not_ related," she emphasized to the beast.

It huffed back and ignored her.

She squeezed Chopper tighter to her side and rubbed her cheek to his. He was so young. He didn't deserve to know the world's hatred already. Not from the reindeer and not from humans. He didn't deserve a broken sea queen who couldn't even keep her shit straight long enough to comfort him, but all of them had been dealt a hand they had to learn to deal with. Riyo would make sure she did everything in her power to let Chopper know he was loved as he was.

"Chopper, you are the best doctor I have ever met, including Kureha. I know that old hag taught you everything you need to know and then some. Oh hush, I can say that when I'm older than her," Riyo said before he could say something in defense of the hag. "You are perfect as you are, blue nose and devil fruit and all."

Riyo stopped to collect her thoughts. She purred lowly as she enjoyed the time cuddling her Omega without the fear to cloud the air. It took her a few minutes to find the words she wanted.

"I'm a monster that pretends to be human, Chopper. You're a special reindeer who was given an amazing gift with your devil fruit. Zoro is inhumanly strong; no one should be able to lose as much blood as he does and still stay conscious. Luffy is an idiot; I've seen him win fights by Will alone because he doesn't _know_ how to quit. Sanji can kick hard enough to knockout ship-size sea kings and cooks like a god. Nami is a preternatural weather wizard and Usopp can shoot the wing off a fly from a hundred yards away. You are an unparalleled doctor, now only one of three people in the world who can treat sea queens. On the Grand Line and on this crew, normal is what's weird. Normal means you'll be dead because you can't protect yourself or your crew. You're perfect as you are, hatchling, and I'm proud to call you our Omega, Chopper."

"Re-really?" he blubbered out, snot and tears clumping his fur.

She simply thrummed in response, a vibration that shook both their bodies as she wrapped herself tighter around his warm fur, snot and all. He clutched at her tail and snuggled tighter against her.

"You are our Omega. I will protect you with everything I have. Because you are not a monster, not on this crew and not to me. You deserve to dream. You deserve to be happy and loved and free. This is home, Chopper. We're family."

Chopper sniffled more as Riyo held him tight against her.

Riyo wasn't sure when she started singing. The song was vocal as much as it was emotion given sound. It was a sea queen's song of voice and aura. Comforting, crooning voice for a hatchling strengthened by subvocal vibrations and an aura of calm and peace and acceptance.

It was the hum and shift of ocean floors, the age-old heartbeat of waves against the shore, the womb-like darkness of the deep sea, the night breeze's kiss against the water's surface, the safety and stillness of underground ocean caves.

They fell asleep curled together, lulled by the sound of the song and the brush of the waves against the Merry's hull.


	9. Chapter Eight

_Chapter Eight - The Other_

 _Updated: 11/2017_

 _Posted: 11/2016_

* * *

They were three days out from Alabasta.

Riyo was meditating in her nest. Her private, no-one-but- _pit_ -allowed nest that she had specifically warned everyone to stay away from until she came out.

"Riyo-san?"

Princess was here. Princess was _not pit_ and Princess was here in her nest.

Time was hard to judge when she went this deep into her mind. It wasn't something she did lightly, but she had put off looking into the damage done to the Other's wall after _somnum_ for too long. The crack needed to be addressed before it went too far to fix.

Meditating deep enough to have full access to the wall thinned her control over the beast and the Other; in order to contain them she became more in sync with them. The beast was fine. It was an instinct-driven, hedonistic, no-impulse-control mess. It couldn't focus long enough to do much of anything besides steal one of her pit to cuddle, clear out their seafood cache in the kitchen freezer, or caterwaul over the Sigma. It might antagonize some sea kings for fun, but that would be nothing the crew couldn't handle.

The Other was the problem. The Other would threaten and hunt and kill if it got the chance. It had no conscience and no human concept of right or wrong...only strong or weak, _pit_ or not- _pit_. And the Other had a lot of time behind the wall to brood and stew.

Unfortunately for Princess, that all meant the beast and the Other had as much chance of responding to an outside interruption as Riyo. The Princess was playing with fire.

They had all felt Vivi's curiosity since they had left Drum Kingdom and she had taken her swim away from Sanji. They had felt Princess' determination to finally see that curiosity through earlier today. They had specifically warned everyone away in order to prepare themselves to deal with Princess' determination later.

Princess had picked the worst possible moment to confront them.

She slit her eyes open to stare without seeing at the wooden ceiling of the cargo hold. She was floating with the beast and Other, no individual part in control of their body. She was still deep in her mind, sluggish to come back from the repair she had been performing on the wall.

{[Eat her.]}

For a frozen second Riyo was actually tempted to listen.

Riyo had laid down flat on her back in her human form to meditate; she found the position easier on her body when she planned to go deep into her psyche. Staying human was likely the only thing that saved Princess' life-in her true form she was more instinctive even when she was in full control.

No one but _pit_ was allowed in their nest. Their warm bed at night and their safe place during the day while they left their body to explore their broken mind.

Riyo needed to ease the jagged edges of the shadowed memories leaking out from the wall. She needed to patch the growing crack and crumbling protection but that wasn't going to happen with Princess there.

It wasn't going to happen at all because the Other surged up in Riyo's distraction to shatter the repair beyond recovery and shove Riyo aside.

"Riyo-san, I'm sorry to bother you. I understand that you came in here for privacy, but I have some questions that must be answered before we arrive in Alabasta and it's been over three hours now. I need to speak with you before-oh..."

A growl reverberated around the small space. Not Riyo.

They had turned the sacks of rice and flour into makeshift mattresses beneath spare sail canvas and ropes, enough for two people to sit and relax. An old, stained tee shirt from Zoro, a ripped pair of Luffy's shorts, a compass (useless on the Grand Line) from Nami, and an old medical textbook from Chopper had been given prominent spots where she could see them from the middle of the pile.

It was the beast and Other that balanced on their makeshift bed, moving and shifting limbs, scales hardening and vibrating and shifting color from skin toned to purples and blues and oranges. Warning. Danger. Death.

The beast was the only thing stopping the Other from taking full control.

Riyo pulled back from the wall. She tried to reach for control, pull them both back inside. But Princess was in their space, walked in on them with no warning, would ask the questions in her eyes that made them remember...and Riyo had already spent so long trying to put the memories back behind the wall that would never be a wall again.

Vivi was far better than the World Nobles, but she was still a part of the Kingdoms, a part of the Reverie on Mariejois. Riyo was surprised by her own bitterness at the position Vivi was born into; it hadn't been Vivi's choice to be born a princess. It hadn't been Riyo's choice to be born a sea queen. Riyo shouldn't hold her blood against her, she knew that logically, but the broken place inside couldn't let go of that old hurt.

Riyo's weakness fed the Other's fight.

Riyo's hope that a purpose and _pit_ would help heal those dark corners of her mind and heart had been a pipe dream. Their every adventure only seemed to bring up more and more memories of her life before she ever met Roger, those shadows leaking further outward and solidifying into bear traps and landmines on a hair trigger. All ready to explode into motion and shrapnel and catch her with pain.

Riyo's control was crumbling, and Riyo was crumbling with it.

The Other won control.

* * *

"Riyo? Are you well?"

Princess was a little human liar. Voice shaking and hands clenching so tight.

It grinned and let its real teeth fill in to contort their human face. Let its eyes change to their true shade. Prey before had called them acid.

Yes, bitter fear in the air. All the prey should fear it.

"You're not Riyo."

It grinned wider. Smart Princess. Smart prey always made the best chase. "It is the Other."

Sharp spike, tensed muscles, twitching eyes.

"Don't run. Not yet. A question to ask. Human has been waiting. Ask it."

"What-What are you? You're not a fishman or mermaid or zoan user."

It took three steps closer. A monster using human's body. It had learned the most fear could be taken when human prey saw it in human skin. When it twisted the human's body to cannibalize its own kind.

Each step was careful, silent, planned. A roll of muscle and sinew and balance as it stalked the foolish prey frozen in front of it. Like a deer before the wolf.

"You know what it is," the words lisped through their teeth. "Speak," they cajoled-hissed-demanded.

Fear, sticky sharp in the air and sweet on its tongue. Gleeful as the prey shivered.

It licked its teeth imagining the warm gush of blood.

Human had spent so many decades learning to imitate sheep that human had forgotten it could be this. It was a huntress, a predator above all others.

Human was an liar and a fool.

It took in the prey's pulse, breathing, eyes, facial twitches, every physical cue it needed to know the second Princess would bolt and the chase would start. It was too easy to read every fleeting thought. Fear, determination, disbelief, and finally the decision.

"Sea queen," she whispered as soft as a rabbit's foot fall.

It let the thrill of the soon-to-be hunt fuel its Change. Its full hybrid form would still fit through the small halls below deck. Teeth and claws and scales and tail expanding until it touched the ceiling. So many years since human used this form.

The little rabbit stood and watched.

How boring.

"Run, run," it growled. "Run as fast as you can, little rabbit." It began stalking Princess-rabbit, forcing her backwards towards the other end of the hold. "The more fun when I catch you, the more time I can plan to crunch, snap, _pop_ you," it snarled at her.

Princess' breathing was quicker and quicker the closer it came. Rabbit was backing away, eyes dilating with adrenaline. But Princess-rabbit wouldn't run.

Its eyes narrowed. Too smart rabbit; that was no fun.

It let its aura wash out to flood the hold.

 _Slit eyes shining from above, claws lashing at the feet to stumble and trip, fetid breath on the back of the neck, jaws snapping at the back, shapes flickering in the corner of the eye, snarls from the darkness, choking breath, burning lungs, claws scrabbling, trying to get in. They will get in. Hunted. Fearfeaarfearfearrunrunrunrunrun._

It crouched to watch as its aura crushed all sense in Rabbit's mind.

Only fear was left.

Blind escape.

Chase.

Fun.

 _"Run, run, rabbit."_

Princess bolted for the door.

Rasping laughter filled the room as it stalked Princess through the hold.

Only the strong deserved to rule. Princess was a rabbit playing at a lion. Weakness had no place in survival.

Weakness was prey.

Hunt the prey, kill the prey, eat the prey.

[Yes, yes. Hunt and chase!]

It smirked at the joy. Dumb animal.

Its head brushed the ceiling more than once as it jogged after the little rabbit. It had to stoop to dart through the small door after the prey.

Clever; Rabbit was trying to use her size to escape.

Its musculature shifted to support the extra joint in its legs that gave them the strength and speed on land and let them twist through the opening. The room seemed empty.

Its head swiveled with deceptively slender muscle to track the rapid pittering heart.

It crushed the storage barrel the rabbit thought to hide behind with one hand. Apples and wood shards spilled across the deck and cut open a few slices on the little rabbit.

It was stronger than a fishman in this form.

Rabbit's blood smelled divine.

Its True Change pulsed beneath its skin. It wanted to shed the humanoid body completely, but they would not harm Alpha's home. Its True Change would shatter and sink this tiny ship.

More's the pity.

"Teeth and claws to hunt you down. Put you down. Down in the ground. What good is your crown when you're worm shit in the ground, foolish rabbit?"

Princess-rabbit had already scrabbled away. Salt. Tears.

Yes, the little rabbit choked back a sob as her heart pittered and her muscles shook and she raced for the hatch to the deck.

"Cry. Scream," it laughed. "Little rabbit came here with lion's claws when it's another sheep in a dress. Rabbit wants it to remember what it is when Rabbit knows nothing of what it lost! The cost it paid to live!"

[They scream in the night. Why did human live? They're all alone now.]

"Shut up you sentimental animal!" it snarled.

An empty crate shattered under its tail. Wood flew.

"So used to the court and the crown and the rules that the little rabbit-that's-a-sheep forgot what a real lion looks like. Teeth and claws and power. We were gods before humans came! Humans stole everything!" it roared.

A fist shattered three more crates in quick succession as the rage peaked. Rice and beans and wood scattered across the floor in a cacophony of sound.

It turned to stare at where Rabbit was scrabbling to open the hatch. "It is free now, little rabbit," it said softly. "It is free and the wall is crumbling. Stupid rabbit made sure of that. Human cannot cage it now. Human cannot stop it."

But human was trying. Human was frantically pulling at it in a choking hold. Human was trying to drag them into the fractured wall.

The fractured wall would break completely. Not today, but soon.

[Freefreefree.]

It grinned. Yes. Freedom. True freedom. Human had forgotten the taste of freedom after human had been pretending so long.

The hatch popped open while it was distracted with human and green hair poked through. Beta's whole body dropped came through the hatch as soon as he saw it.

Beta put himself in front of the rabbit prey.

It frowned.

"Beta would protect the rabbit? Rabbit is weak. A sheep. Not _pit_."

"Vivi is part of this crew and under our protection," Beta said slowly as he took out all three blades. He placed one blade's white hilt in his mouth and took a fighting stance before them.

It crouched and cocked its head questioningly at Beta. "Beta would defend the sheep-rabbit? Waste of energy. Join its hunt. Lots of fear, pittering heart. Warm blood to feed the _pit_."

Little rabbit gagged and trembled behind Beta, but it was more interested in Beta's emotions.

It cocked its head as Beta changed through unease-worry-repulsed-nauseated too. Odd Beta. Why would Beta not want to feed the _pit_?

"Vivi, get Luffy. Now. This isn't Riyo."

"Y-yes. It said it was the other."

Beta's hold on his blades tightened. "Get Luffy. Hurry!"

It snarled. "Rabbit-sheep is for the chase!"

It lunged forward as Rabbit scurried up the ladder to the deck.

Beta tried to stop it. That shocked it more than anything. What was Beta doing halting the hunt?

It easily sidestepped Beta's swipe. Sloppy and excessive. The Hawkeyes would still crush him. Beta had much to learn to Beta well.

It placed a hand on the ladder and Beta's katana came down on its scaled forearm, blunt edge but with enough force to break a human arm.

It didn't bother to avoid the blow. Its scales surged, darkened to black, absorbed the blow and immediately returned to normal.

Beta's blade rebounded from its own force, nearly slipping from his grip.

Beta would have better luck cutting diamond.

It frowned at Beta. "It is getting the little rabbit for the _pit_. Stop or it will make you."

"No. You're not eating Vivi," Beta said as he bit harder on the white blade.

Human tugged in their mind. It growled as it placed a clawed hand to its head.

 _Stop! Not Zoro!_

"Stupid human. Stupid Beta." It shook its head, stumbling a step back as human _yanked._

[Hunt. Beta. Oh, Alpha.]

It glanced up. Yes, Alpha was coming.

It grabbed the ladder again. It wasn't surprised Beta spun his blades at its chest and legs, this time with the sharpened edge.

Human was winning control.

Beta was being foolish. Baby Beta had much to learn.

The animal was chanting for Alpha.

It was running out of time.

It snarled as it grabbed both of Beta's katanas in its hands. Scales surged and blackened at the points of contact.

It pulled on the blades.

Beta flew forward and past it as it wrenched the swords from his hands and threw them aside.

It ignored Beta to climb the ladder. Its shoulders cleared the edge in time for Alpha to bounce down from the rigging to land in front of it on the deck.

It stared up at Alpha.

Alpha's hat shadowed his eyes as he glared down at it.

"Stop."

The word rang final. Disapproving. Disappointed.

It growled up at Alpha, displeased.

Alpha crouched down, hands on his knees as he met it at eye level.

"No. You can't eat Vivi."

"Princess-rabbit-prey invaded its nest. Rabbit thinks it knows what it has lived. What it has _lost_ ," it bit out. "Rabbit knows nothing of what it lost. What humans took from it. Rabbit will die and feed the _pit_. Weak rabbits who delude themselves to be lions cannot rule."

It felt a thrum of nausea-disgust-fear from Theta. It turned from Alpha to look over its shoulder at the helm. Theta was gripping the railing with white knuckles.

Alpha snapped his fingers and they turned back to him. Alpha tilted his head. "No, we don't know what you lost. But even weak people can become strong if you give them the chance. You can't kill everyone only because you can. How else will they learn? Besides, Sanji makes all of the food we need. Don't need to eat Vivi. Get better meat off of a sea king anyway."

[Good point.]

It tilted its head back at Alpha. "Humans are stringy. Sea king tastes better."

Alpha nodded. "Yep. Now let Riyo come back. Vivi knows not to go into your nest again."

It tried to say more, tried to deny Alpha, but human surged up and it lost its grip on the wood.

It fell back into the hold below.

* * *

Riyo woke up in the hold.

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds since the Other fell down, only enough time to slide back into her human form-if fully scaled in a cascade of pale pink and yellow scales, the colors displaying her confusion.

Zoro.

She jerked, twisting fluidly to her feet to crouch at the bottom of the ladder. Claws dug into the wood.

Zoro. He was slumped against the wall where he had been thrown, head down to stare at the two katanas a few feet away on the floor.

Oh no. No, no, no. What had they done.

Beta would not forgive himself.

"Riyo? Is that you now?"

Luffy.

[Alpha!]

{Foolish Beta. Alpha should punish the rabbit!}

Riyo snarled, the sound edged too deep to be completely human, as she turned the shock into anger and faced the Other.

 _What have you done? Our_ pit _will never forgive us!_

{Rabbit had no right to our nest!}

"We had no right to chase!" she nearly screamed back, hands fisting in her hair.

"Riyo?"

She glanced up through the open hatch. Luffy was looking down at her, his hat blocking out most of the sun.

"Luffy- _Alpha. I'm so sorry,"_ she choked out. She felt tears at the corner of her eyes.

How many years had it been since she cared enough to cry?

She couldn't look at Luffy any longer. She could still feel the echoes of Chopper's fear, Nami's disgust and nervousness. Vivi's blood still hung in the still air of the hold and even now Riyo couldn't stop the instinctive draw to it.

She collapsed to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself. Her hair was a curtain from what she had done.

She had promised to protect this crew.

She thought she could protect them.

Then how did she save them from herself?

There was a thump and then rubbery arms wrapped her in a warm hold. She choked on a breath as she buried her face into Luffy's chest.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed out softly. "I'm so sorry."

Those seemed to be the only words she could say for some time.

She was disgusted with herself. With the beast. With the Other. But she hated herself the most because a part of her had allowed it. A part of her had _enjoyed_ it.

They would always crave the adrenaline and thrill of a chase no matter how much she denied the beast and Other as part of herself.

"I hurt them. I broke them. _We hurt them_ ," she whispered over and over again.

"Riyo. Breathe. It's done. You're here now."

"Alpha, _I hurt them_."

The beast surged up. Riyo was still too unsettled to stop it completely. "They hurt us, they made us bleed. They all bleed and cry and scream and they won't stop. They won't stop taking their sisters away."

She twisted against Luffy's hold for a moment as the Other pushed a final time. " _It will raze them."_

Ryuko, Other, Riyo. They all struggled for control. Her voice dipped and roughened with the fear of Ryuko lost in memories and the hate of the Other at Vivi's words. It rose with her own desperation not to lose her shit again while on the ship with the crew.

She mentally lashed out at the Other and the beast.

She locked the beast in its room.

It shoved the Other away behind its crumbling wall through will and self-hate and locked it in out of desperation.

Riyo didn't try to stop the tears as she was left as alone as she could be in her mind.

They felt Princess at the edge of the hatch. Seeing her was the last thing they needed.

"I'm sorry, Luffy," Princess started softly. Riyo could barely hear her over Luffy's hold and her own tears. "I didn't realize...I didn't mean to. I needed to know I could trust her-if she was really a sea queen. I thought-but I didn't, not really. I'm _so_ sorry, Riyo. Please," Vivi babbled, "I'm not them. I'm not the World Government. I know the stories of what they did to the sea queens. _I'm so, so sorry_." Vivi's voice broke with emotion as she trailed off.

"Leave, Vivi." Luffy's voice was hard and cold, not the voice Luffy would use lightly with someone he considers a friend.

Riyo felt Vivi pause a few seconds more before her presence moved away.

Luffy sat next to her and pulled her fully into his lap and chest. He pressed her face into his neck and rocked her slowly.

He held her with his entire body wrapped around her, safe and warm. She breathed him in, a part of her settling at the scent of her Alpha. Strong. Safe. Protected.

Loved.

Because Luffy knew. For all of his idiotic moments, for all of his naivety-he knew. When it counted he always knew.

She didn't know how he knew and she didn't ask. He was Alpha and protector and friend and that's what she needed right now.

She couldn't stop her instincts holding on to him as tightly as her hands clutching at his vest.

She wasn't surprised he knew the ache of losing something precious. Someone special. No matter how long ago, no matter the why, it was always an ache in the back of your mind and a bruise on your heart...tender every time you poked and prodded, thinking and hoping you were fixed. It ached at the oddest times.

She could feel her Alpha bond thickening, every one of her physical senses and all the focus of her instincts wrapping around Luffy faster and deeper than was entirely healthy or safe for her.

She couldn't have cared less for the consequences when the immersion was all that was keeping her grounded.

Some aches were never meant to fade. They became a piece of you.

Luffy knew.


	10. Chapter Nine

_Chapter Nine - Regret and Offerings_

 _Edited: 12/2017_

 _Posted: 11/2016_

* * *

Riyo didn't remember falling asleep in Luffy's arms.

She didn't remember Luffy carrying her to her nest in the hold, or the crew coming down to clean up the mess, or restlessly sleeping with Luffy for the rest of the day because she refused to let go of his vest when he tried to leave.

She didn't remember anything until she woke late that evening and the captain told her.

She shooed him out the door when he tried to stay; Sanji was cooking supper-he didn't need too much motivation.

She listened to Zoro lifting weights, Sanji delivering a tray to Vivi in the girls' room, and the subdued tone in the kitchen while everyone else sat down to eat.

The crew drifted into silence as the night grew late.

Usopp was first on watch. Then Zoro. Sanji started bustling around the kitchen.

Riyo was awake for it all.

* * *

The next day when Riyo came up from her nest for breakfast shortly after Sanji called for breakfast the atmosphere was stiff, to say the least.

More for herself than the crew she had chosen to wear clothes, a vee neck black tunic shirt that fell nearly to her knees and was more of a short dress than anything. The weight of the cloth was a reminder she wasn't an animal. Not completely.

Conversation tapered away as she resolutely walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the far end of the table.

"Riyo is being weird," Luffy broke the quiet. "How can you be unseeable and see-able like that?"

She glanced up to stare at the wood grain of the table from where she had been staring at the wood grain of the floor. She followed a loop with her eyes.

She hadn't realized she had crept in silently, moving like she was avoiding a larger threat. It was a way to ghost in public, an instinct both natural and learned...and something she hadn't done since she was a hatchling in her first century.

"Sorry, Captain," she whispered into the table.

The awkward atmosphere was shattered when a plate of sea king bacon and perfectly scrambled eggs with a smattering of greens thunked down in front of her.

"Sorry for what?" Sanji said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of when you're being yourself."

Riyo made a mocking sound in her throat. "Even when being yourself means being a psychopathic, moralless monster?"

"Monsters are what make it on the Grand Line; isn't that what you told Chopper? They protect their family and keep their crew alive. Monsters survive. That power is something to be respected, not to be shamed."

"Sanji is right, Riyo," Chopper spoke up quietly. "Don't be ashamed of what you've survived. It brought you to us!"

She could feel Sanji's smug grin; she was still staring at the plate.

"Now eat up," the chef said. "You missed supper last night."

Riyo finally looked up to stare at Sanji's visible eyebrow. Her eye twitched.

"That was a private conversation," she said to his forehead.

He lit a cigarette. "It's a small ship. And you're not eating."

"Eat, Riyo!" Luffy threw in. "Food always makes it better!"

[Don't eat if don't want to.]

"Yeah," she mumbled in agreement at the petulant statement. "Can't make us."

There was the scuffle of wood on wood and Riyo tensed as she felt Nami coming over.

Riyo hadn't missed the fact that Zoro and Vivi were still conspicuously absent.

Nami sat down close enough to press her arm into Riyo's side; Riyo didn't realize how much she needed the contact until she felt the tension leaking from her back and shoulders as she leaned into her Theta's touch.

"One day at a time, Riyo. Things will work out. We're family-we forgive each other and make each other stronger for it," Nami said.

Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes and Riyo knew the feeling, she was haunted by it, and she was too much of a coward to give it a name even in her own mind or it would all be stolen away again.

"Zoro and Vivi are hiding. They're afraid of me."

"They're not-"

Riyo violently shook her head.

"Don't placate me. I can feel them. Vivi is terrified; she's hiding in the girls' cabin. Zoro is afraid of how little I tried but more than that he's ashamed of himself. He's training his body into the ground on the aft deck. Has been since last night."

She turned to bury her head in Nami's hair. She breathed in the scent of tangerines, paper, and sea wind for strength. Then she whispered the words like a dirty secret into Nami's neck, "I threw his katanas to the floor like he was a child with sticks, Theta."

Nami sighed and wrapped her in a one armed hug. "When it got really bad-when I couldn't stand one more minute with Arlong-I would turn to my maps and tell myself one more line," the navigator said softly; a secret for a secret. "One more line, one more current, one more coast. One more day." Nami picked up Riyo's hand, placed the fork from the plate Sanji had set down into her palm, and wrapped Riyo's fingers around it. "One day at a time, Riyo."

Riyo mechanically turned to shovel a bite of eggs into her mouth, her mind programmed to listen to her Theta when her own emotions were too tangled to safely discern.

"We're nakama, Riyo. It'll work out," Usopp added.

Riyo swallowed. She knew the eggs were perfect but they tasted like dirt on her tongue and went down like gravel.

One day at a time. Forgiveness and family. It will all work out….Too bad Riyo could feel how much everyone wanted to believe their own words.

* * *

The day passed in a blur. Riyo stayed close to Nami on deck, never more than a few feet away.

She refused to change from human no matter how good the sun would feel on her scales.

She could easily admit to herself she was terrified of giving Ryuko or the Other any chance to become more prominent.

It was mid-afternoon when Riyo was woken from her groggy slouch on deck by a ping of recognition for their surroundings. She sat up from where she had been sitting against the railing by Nami's deck chair.

There was nothing but sea to the horizon all around them, but Riyo could navigate by the magnetic pulls and currents. This particular tug reminded her of a small cache she had stowed some years ago nearby. She kept little of her hoard in Paradise, so it wasn't a surprise she had forgotten about it.

It was as good an excuse as any to get off the boat for a while. And it would be perfect for her plan to win Nami over once and for all.

Riyo had forgotten all about this particular treasure-all of her hoards in Paradise were fuzzy on the contents-but it would be even better than the straight up gold she had been initially planning to give her Theta.

It was too perfect to pass up, in fact.

Riyo stood and stretched her cramped body. She leaned a hip on the railing next to where Nami had brought out a deck chair to sunbathe. Riyo couldn't stop a reluctant smile when she saw Chopper napping in the shade Nami cast, a small medical text opened over his face to block out the light.

Riyo tipped her own face back to bask in the humidity and sun, for a moment pretending everything was fine and Vivi wasn't still hiding in her room and Zoro had actually stopped for a break from the grueling weight training and exhausting katas in the last dozen hours.

"Riyo? Did you need something?"

Right. Nami was getting more adept at reading her. That meant their bond was coming along nicely, but it also meant Riyo couldn't fool her easily anymore.

"Yes. I'm going for a swim. I wanted to let you know I'll be under for a while, two or three hours tops."

Nami quirked an eyebrow at her over her sunglasses.

Riyo refused to let herself fidget.

Nami broke the silent battle of wills with a sigh as she pushed her sunglasses back up her nose.

"Do we need to anchor or can you find the Merry if we keep following the log pose?"

Riyo gave Nami a soft smile of thanks.

"I'll find it. I can feel the currents and sense the seasons and magnetic forces of everything nearby. How else would I navigate the Grand Line? I can't exactly keep checking a log pose every few minutes when I'm swimming on the sea floor," Riyo added with a small, reluctant smile.

Nami smiled back. "I'd tell you to be careful but I'm pretty sure it's more likely any thing in the sea should be careful of you."

That startled a bark of laughter out of Riyo as she grabbed her tunic and shrugged it off over her head and into Nami's lap in a quick jerk of movement.

"Yeah, you guys won't have to worry about anything while I'm down there." Riyo sat on the railing next to Nami, her feet dangling over the open water and scales and skin enjoying the direct warmth without the tunic in the way. "I'll have a surprise for you when I get back, too."

"I look forward to both!" Nami laughed.

* * *

Riyo dove beneath the waves. She swam down in human form until she couldn't take the pressure any longer-then she let herself Change in a way she hadn't consciously allowed in almost twenty years.

She grew. She grew and stretched and powered herself down through the bright water into the darker depths.

The guilt faded as she allowed herself to grow larger and larger the deeper she went. She finally settled onto the sandy sea floor some time later at a half Change.

It wasn't something she had been planning on, it simply seemed...right. Not to mention she needed to Change if she wanted to find Theta's treasure. As she had feared, it did bring the Other and Ryuko closer.

{Coward.}

Yes. Yes, she was.

She sighed, or at least what counted for a sigh, and enjoyed the cold water that washed through her gills. She spread out her senses a few hundred meteres around herself to observe the various bottom feeders making a wide berth around where she had sprawled in the sand. The sea was shallow here, only two or three thousand meters down, so there was nothing too obscure. It was far from the more than 10,000 meter trench she claimed as her own. It was deep enough and dark enough to spark her natural bioluminescence, however, lines lighting up between her scales in captivating whirls to entrance prey.

If she had an appetite she might have put in the effort to hunt, but all of the potential prey instinctively knew to keep clear with her aura bleeding around her while she brooded. There wasn't much point in hunting if her aura ran everything off as fast as she moved after it.

[Human needs to fix Beta.]

Riyo grumbled. _The whole point of this was to take a break from figuring that out._

[Fix it.]

 _Don't you think I know it needs fixed?_ she snapped. _How can I fix what we did? We shattered his confidence, ripped out his belief in himself to protect._

[Sorry. Scared. Wrong.] There was a short pause. [Fix it.]

Riyo vocalized a low rumble of anoyance and curled her neck away from the internal grief from the beast. A glimmer at her side caught her attention. She twisted her head to see it better.

A loose scale near her secondary heart. It wasn't too shocking after the many layers they had shed during _somnum_ to see one. It was a bit odd it hadn't fallen out yet, however. She'd need to pry it-

{Idiot.}

The slow display of needle sharp teeth passed for a smile.

Yes...yes, she was.

* * *

With an attempt at an apology to Beta in mind, Riyo set about finding her cache for Nami. She remembered stowing it under the usual magnetic rock formation somewhere...near...there.

The rocks had shifted and fell over the years, but she was positive this was it. Her bioluminescence was barely enough to see. She relied on the sensitive whiskers around her snout and the high pitched keen of echolocation to map out the ground and guide her in the darkness as she moved.

She set about nosing through the stones, the thick armored scales and ridged protrusions protecting her face as she shoved boulders twice as big as Chopper's human point aside with strong neck muscles. She had front legs in her half-Change but the digits were webbed for maneuverability and not really designed for delicate tasks like digging. This form was meant for speed and agility in the water, with pelvic fins where her back legs would normally be found in a True Change.

After shifting the stones Riyo was able to shove aside the sand until she bumped the chest she had buried. She cleared the debris further with her snout until she could pull the chest free in her jaws. She rolled it onto her tongue; quicker that way.

She made the slow ascent back to the Merry. Either she had been under longer than she thought or they had caught a decent headwind. Either way, it was a good swim to catch up with the ship. Riyo enjoyed it for what it was, stretching muscles and senses she had ignored for too long. The worry and stress seemed to melt away as she lost herself in the feeling of the sea and the currents.

Riyo came up on the Merry slowly, reluctant to come back to what she had left. But the swim had given her space and time she needed, and with a clearer head and the starting plan of an apology for Zoro she was feeling better about her options.

Her good mood was frozen when she finally broke the surface to come face to face with a very tense crew all lined up on deck. The whole crew, including Vivi and Zoro, were on deck and poised for a fight.

"Al-bah?" she asked. Her voice came out far deeper than normal, reverberating across the deck even muffled by the chest.

Oh. Right. She could eat the Merry in two bites like this…and her aura was still slightly bleeding out.

She was surprised they hadn't instantly attacked her as soon as she surfaced.

She sunk down until only her eyes and facial ridges could be seen. It put her level with the railing even if the width of her head with the armor plating and ridges was almost the length of Merry. She rolled the chest to the tip of her tongue and leaned forward to gingerly set the waterlogged-and spit covered-wood on the deck in front of Nami.

She sunk back into the water and started to shrink back to human.

"Wait!" Luffy yelled. He came running over to the edge of the deck. "That's you, Riyo?"

She slowly moved back up until she could see the open deck.

She cast a shadow over the entire ship.

"Yes. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," she rumbled out.

"Scared? The great Captain Usopp feels no fear! Especially not of ginormous, armored, horned, clawed, razor-sharp teeth-"

"Yes, yes. That's enough. We get it, Usopp." Nami stopped him with a fist to the skull.

He hit the deck with a thud; his legs had been shaking so bad they couldn't hold him after that hit.

Riyo purred in gratitude. "Thank you, Theta."

Vivi's growing tension at Usopp's attempt at humor had been awkward, even if Vivi had tried to hide it.

"You're so cool!" Luffy suddenly screamed, arms flinging out to grab one of her cheek protrusions and catapault himself at her face.

The shout was loud and sudden enough, the simultaneous burst of awe-amaze-wonder-joy over the deeper Alpha bond strong enough and jarring enough, Riyo actually startled.

It was _not_ a good idea to startle a half-Changed sea queen.

Her deep blue scales flashed a bright pattern of purple and orange. She reared back, the Merry rocking dangerously far in the sudden displacement of her bulk. There were shouts as everyone stumbled when the deck rocked damn near sideways.

Chopper slid off the far rail, hitting the water with a small splash everyone else missed.

Riyo trumpeted in distress, making everyone clap their hands to their ears even as the tried to hang on to what they could. Her tail swung under the boat to catch Chopper's quickly sinking body. She grabbed the Merry's railing at the same time to keep the caravel from capsizing in the churning water.

When it was all said and done, Riyo was left towering over the Merry, one clawed hand engulfing the entire front half of the ship like a rubber ducky in the tub, and holding a dripping reindeer coughing up water and wrapped in a frilled-fin coil at the very tip of her tail.

"Shishishishishi!"

The laughter started small and then grew and grew as Luffy looked at them all.

Then Nami, Usopp, and Sanji were laughing, and even Zoro and Vivi were smiling.

Luffy's joy bubbled up along the Alpha bond like fine wine. Happiness, love, laughter. It spilled over from Luffy and into her own chest.

She had never felt anything like that from a _pit_ bond before.

She could only revel in the feeling and stare at the tiny, tiny body containing so much emotion inside he shared so freely with those he loved. Monkey D. Luffy was so much more than what he seemed.

But he would always be her Alpha before anything.

* * *

Some time later Riyo was back in her human form with the rest of the crew. After the initial shock everyone was more impressed with her size than anything else. Once Sanji suggested a snack after the scare it had been a flurry of questions from the crew.

"Riyo, is that the largest you get?"

She shook her head as she tore into a plate of crab. She ripped a leg off and began snapping through it, swallowing the shell and all.

Turns out she was ravenous after missing so many meals and making a half-Change.

Usopp and Chopper were watching her in open fascination as Sanji kept adding whole crabs to the top of the plate...and whole crabs kept disappearing.

"That was what I call a half-Change. Half the size of my True Change-my full Change. It's meant for speed and maneuverability more than anything. I needed to let off some energy."

"Half?!"

She glanced at Nami's shocked face in confusion.

"Sea queens grow roughly one to two meters for every year of life on average. We have the uncommon growth spurt here and there where we might add three or more meters but that's the exception," she explained. "My full Change is way more armored; it's meant for battle. It's rare to see an adult sea queen in a True Change as it takes a lot of energy. We usually have to be pretty pissed off since the half-Change is enough for most threats at my age."

She could see everyone doing the rough math.

"...so how old are you, Riyo?" Chopper finally asked slowly.

Riyo shifted marginally away from the sudden gleam of science in his eyes.

"358."

Nami spit out the lemonade she had been drinking.

"What?!" everyone yelled.

"I never mentioned that?" Riyo asked.

[Huh. Thought we had.]

{Morons.}

"Shishishishishishi! So Riyo, can you poop as a dragon?"

"Idiot!" everyone yelled.

Riyo basked in the bubble of happy warmth from her Alpha bond in the middle of all the chaos.

She crunched down on another leg.

Maybe things would work out after all.

* * *

With everyone was dry and fed they couldn't keep Nami from the chest on deck anymore.

Riyo watched amusedly as Nami, Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper all tried to open the chest for nearly fifteen minutes before their ideas got too ridiculous to be safe anymore.

"Here," she shooed them back. "I got it."

Riyo grabbed the rusted lock she was pretty sure about ten different species had moved into and yanked with a little push of haki to snap the metal from the chest.

Nami looked like a kid who had Christmas come early.

As soon as the lock was clear the navigator shoved Usopp out of the way to open the lid. Sea water spilled out along with a couple fish but the water couldn't hide the dull glimmer inside.

Gold. Jewels. Coins and jewelry. Nami was running her hands through it all with beli signs in her eyes.

"Treasure!" Chopper shouted excitedly, his hooves pressed to his face with glee.

"Treasure!" Luffy and Usopp yelled...although Usopp's was a bit smothered by the deck in his face.

Sanji had wandered over a few minutes ago and took a peek into the chest himself. "Well, that might be enough to restock and feed you bottomless pits at Alabasta."

"It's all yours, Nami," Riyo said with a small smile next to the navigator who still hadn't stopped running her hands through the salt water soaked hoard. "But there's something inside that I really wanted you to have. It's part of a set that was crafted for some World prat to show off. I 'acquired' it before it could be delivered."

Riyo leaned over and dug into the metal and water. They'd need to drain that…and there it was. She pulled it out carefully. It dripped onto the deck as she held it out to her Theta.

It was a meticulously carved, thin bronze branch. The leaves and bark were green and brown from the aged patina, making them look even more realistic. Hanging from the branch were four perfect tangerines in gold, crafted to look so lifelike they seemed ready to drop off the branch at any moment.

"Riyo...I don't even know what to say," Nami looked floored. "I-Thank you, Riyo. I'll keep this in my personal collection."

Nami held the piece delicately, as if cradling a child. Eh, for her it might be. Her emotions were a bit disturbing right now…

Emotions?

[Theta needs alone time with the shinies.]

No shit she did. Riyo knew Nami had a tic when it came to treasure but that was a whole level of kink Riyo did not want to know about.

It did bring up the question of how she was feeling it at all. Riyo thought her Alpha bond had been an exception after what happened yesterday. Riyo had never felt real emotions from her _pit_ before. The bond shouldn't work like that. The bond was meant for protection; it should only be triggered by fear-intense fear that meant her _pit_ needed immediate help.

This was so much more. Happiness, excitement, joy...desire.

Ugh.

Riyo did _not_ want to think of what Nami would be doing in her 'alone time' later tonight.

"I have caches all over the sea floor, Nami. Not as many in Paradise though, which is why I had forgotten about this one until we got close to it. Most of my main hoards are in the New World."

Nami turned slowly from looking at her gift.

"Hoards as in plural?"

Riyo shivered. It wasn't the tone, as terrifying as the robotic delivery was. It was the sudden aura. Nami practically radiated obsessive attention; stalker-level attention.

"I kind of collect treasure myself," Riyo hedged, carefully putting Sanji between herself and Nami. It put her slightly closer to Vivi, who was sitting near the mast and watching them in utter bemusement, but that was far better than the old stink of fear from this morning. Riyo was fairly positive Nami had spoken to the Princess while she was swimming. "It's sort of instinctual to collect shiny things, and then I got a lot from when I was with the Roger pirates. I _have_ been collecting for over 350 years. It adds up over time, so I had to expand out into underwater cave systems around my territory to store it all."

"Exactly, and I mean exactly, how much are we talking?"

Nami's voice was scarily...normal, for all of the sheer aura flooding the small group.

"Well, if we tried to collect it all, it's enough to sink the Merry a few times over…"

There was a thud.

"Nami?!"

"Ah, we need a doctor!"

"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!"

* * *

When Nami woke up from her dead faint an hour later, she came staggering out on deck from the girls' room and went right to Riyo.

Riyo sat up from where she was lounging on the warm wood in the sun and smiled at Nami before the redhead dropped into her lap, grabbed her face in both hands, and kissed her dead on the lips.

"I think I love you."

Riyo stared at her. Her cheeks were still squished between Nami's hands.

[Want the Sigma,] the beast grumbled. [Dumb Theta.]

 _Not what she means._

She hoped.

"I'm shorry, but I don' shwing dat way?"

Nami dropped her hands to hug Riyo's face to her chest.

"It can be platonic. You don't even have to do anything but bring me your treasure as we come by it."

"I…" Riyo turned her head so she could breathe. "Okay? That seems rather one-sided in your favor?"

"Oh, I'm happy to reward you. You can cuddle me any time you want, day or night in any size or form, no questions asked."

"Deal."

[No brainer! Yes!]

Riyo looked up as Chopper ran off to a convulsing Sanji. The chef had stepped out of the galley right as Nami kissed her.

They may have broken him.

Luffy happened to be standing on deck, as well as Vivi.

"What is _wrong_ with this crew?" Vivi threw up her hands and went to go check on Sanji.

"Shishishishi, Nami and Riyo are funny."

Riyo pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

At least they were making improvements with Vivi. Riyo hadn't missed that burst of amusement before Princess walked off.

One day at a time, huh.

Riyo grinned when she heard Sanji rambling incoherently about mermaids and elephant tuna while Chopper gave him a blood transfusion for his chronic nosebleed. The chef would be fine.

Two days to Alabasta. A new day to apologize to Zoro.


	11. Chapter Ten

_Chapter Ten - Apologies and_ Truths

Edited _: 12/2017_

Posted _: 11/2016_

Riyo spent a good portion of the night deciding how to approach Zoro. Too strong and the swordsman would feel like it was pity; too mild and it wouldn't appease Riyo's own instinctive need to fix what she had done.

There wasn't exactly a Miss Manners set of instructions for conveying the appropriate level of 'I'm sorry' for her psychopathic personality disrespecting his entire life's ambition and most cherished belongings while trying to cannibalize a guest.

Zoro had done well with Hawkeye, but that had been a stranger and an unknown, a hurdle to attempt and in that case miss. It was a failure he could accept in stride and with some semblance of grace.

Hawkeye hadn't been the lizard he carried around and cuddled-though Zoro would never admit it.

Riyo finally fell into a fitful sleep in the early hours of the morning pushing around ideas and going in circles with potential receptions to each.

~*\\*~

Riyo woke before sunrise.

She wasn't surprised it was due to the small sounds of Zoro starting his weight training on the aft deck.

Again.

She lay curled in her nest in the hold, all of her senses trained on the rhythmic clink of weights and the swordsman's even breathing.

{Coward.}

Riyo snorted at the Other as she stretched out her body physically as a way to mentally prepare for the morning; she couldn't disagree with its assessment, after all.

~*\\*~

The sun was barely considering an appearance on the horizon; the clear sky was the palest purple-pink.

She made a slow trek across the deck, nodding at Sanji as the chef was coming down from the crow's nest to begin breakfast preparations; he had been on watch.

Riyo wasn't surprised the blond paused for a moment in front of her.

"Marimo doesn't blame you, you know."

Riyo gave him a baleful look. "I blame myself enough for us both. And he's going to permanently maim himself if he doesn't stop this insane training."

"I won't disagree with that," Sanji admitted. Seas forbid he actually show some level of concern for the swordsman. The chef took a slow drag on his cigarette. "But you're both being dense."

He spun on his heel and disappeared into the galley with a click of his dress shoes.

Riyo blinked for a moment. That was almost an insult--for a woman. That was a huge breakthrough for Sanji.

Riyo also had the sinking feeling she had been judged and found wanting by a kid way-too-much-of-a-fraction of her age. Screw the species lifespan conversion, she was calling bullshit on that one.

"Dense," she muttered to herself. "He's one to talk. I know who he's watching from the crows nest this early; my nose doesn't lie."

~*\\*~

Riyo found Zoro exactly where she expected he'd be: training himself into the ground with what should be physically impossible weights.

She leaned on the back wall of the galley that separated the space from the main deck and watched the sweat drip down the smooth muscle of Zoro's back as he swung the massive bar and disk weights with one arm in a paraody of a sword.

Riyo could see why Sanji enjoyed morning watch. She was hardly going to begrudge him the eye candy, even if Zoro was doing this as some sort of twisted punishment for his perceived failure.

Not even Ray had been able to tangle with the Other head on.

Zoro was running through precision katas with the massively over-proportioned hunk of metal and making it look way too easy. And therin lay the problem.

[Hurts.]

Yes. It did. Riyo could feel the ache and burn of the weights in her own shoulders, back, and torso. She could feel the inflamed pain of the stitches popping in his chest and stomach with no chance for recovery the way Zoro was going.

He was quite doggedly killing himself one rep at a time.

Riyo was half tempted to sic Chopper on him right then and there. She curbed the instinct that wanted her to protect her _pit_ even from themselves. She wasn't a hatchling right out of the egg anymore. She had some control over her instincts.

Some.

Zoro would be seeing the fluffball after this and he would be resting for the day. Whether he liked it or not.

She watched Zoro. Watched him ignore the tiny trails of blood and clear fluid seeping from the stitches and shrug off the twinge of muscles protesting the abuse. When Zoro went to move into working his left arm-she lost count of the right arm repetitions at over three hundred, and who knew how late she came into the set-she had enough.

"Zoro."

He paused, the weight held easily in his right arm, and turned his head a fraction to acknowledge her. She knew he had been aware of her the entire time.

"I need to talk with you about what happened. What I did to you and Vivi."

He grunted, but then set the weight on the deck-with an ominous creaking of wood that made Riyo pat Merry's banister in sympathy-and walked over to his discarded shirt to wipe the sweat and blood off his face and chest. He threw the shirt back on the deck and leaned his hip against the railing.

He crossed his arms and stared at her.

That was as much as an invitation as she was going to get, she supposed.

"I-" Her eyes got caught on a small rivulet of blood that dripped from the puffed, red skin around the stitched wound in his chest. Most of the line was scabbed over, faintly bleeding, or seeping fluid. "I'm-"

Seas, that looked awful. Humans were not designed to sustain that kind of damage indefinitely.

"How hard did you even have to try?"

She flinched and dropped her eyes from the horror fest on his chest to the deck.

Damn. He wasn't going to pull any punches.

She wasn't going to do him the dishonor of lying, either. She met the demand in his eyes head on.

"I didn't." She tilted her chin up. "I didn't have to try to stop you."

The words were quiet and leaden in the early dawn air as they stared at each other.

She watched the tension in his shoulders, the clench in his jaw at her answer. She could see the pull in the skin around his eyes as he faced the reminder of the mountain he had to climb before he was even in the game.

"How fast could you end this crew, if you chose?"

She closed her eyes. She couldn't look at him as she whispered the words; couldn't face the fact that he knew she had calculated it too many times to count.

"3 minutes if Luffy was Luffy. Less if he...wasn't."

And that was being generous to the sheer stubbornness of Luffy's Will. In all reality it was less than 60 seconds.

She knew how easy it would be to end the life of everyone on this ship. She knew because she had done it, massacring entire crews-seas, she had destroyed entire armadas when she was bored-before they ever came close to Roger. She knew how stupidly easy it would be to lose them all if they met the wrong person at the wrong time and the crew acted like themselves because they were the Strawhat Pirates through and through.

One wrong word or bullheaded speech to the wrong person and all of their dreams, their spirits, would be stolen in moments.

Her world was defined by a stranger's will and seconds on a clock.

"Hawkeye was right to question why you would choose people so weak to follow," Zoro broke the silence.

Riyo was unnerved by the emotion in the admission.

Zoro stared out at the orange and gold sunrise across the waves in front of them. "We're nothing to you. If it came down to it there's nothing we could do to stop you."

"No," she agreed. She would give him honesty in all things. "Not with the skills you have now."

She walked closer, close enough to feel the fevered heat of Zoro's skin where she stood at the railing next to him. They both watched the last of the sunrise in silence. With the sun fully over the horizon and beginning to burn off the morning chill, Riyo turned to Zoro. She made sure to catch his eyes so he knew the truth of her words.

"You forgot that Mihawk admitted he saw the same potential as I do, though. He challenged you, Roronoa Zoro, to find the world and surpass him. I've known Mihawk almost his entire life, since he was a young child. This crew is so young. Bright. Naive in some ways. But that doesn't change talent and will." She did not blink as she made sure Zoro's focus was on her. "You're the only one Mihawk has ever seen as a potential successor to his title. You're the only one he's ever challenged to succeed."

"Tch. You're not-"

"If you're about to comment on my age we're gonna have a problem. I'm in the prime of my life, thank you."

"Tch." He stared at the water again.

"What I'm trying to say," she sighed, "is that there are people in this world who would face Mihawk and break under an unstoppable force. People like Krieg. Then there are people like you, who would meet that unstoppable force and learn to bend in order to come back stronger again. I'm trying to give you a compliment."

Zoro finally looked at her and Riyo could feel his anger and uncertainty, his self-recrimination churning in her own chest across their bond.

She really needed to figure that out. It was miserable feeling every one of her _pit's_ emotion at all times.

"What good is bending if it means I fail?" Zoro growled. "What good is a chance to become stronger if it means my Captain and crew are dead?"

Riyo wanted to bash her head on the railing.

[We aren't good at the emotion thing.]

{No shit.}

"Shut up, you two," she snapped.

Zoro raised an eyebrow at her outburst.

"Sorry," she waved her hand, "the peanut gallery isn't helping this."

"They're kind of the reason for this," Zoro said pointedly.

Ouch.

"I know," she sighed. This time it was her turn to stare out at the water. "Look, their actions, although mostly out of my control, don't change the fact that they are me. As much as I hate it that makes it my responsibility to fix whatever stupidity it is they've done."

{Bite me, human.}

 _Gladly,_ she growled back. Ryuko was cackling to itself as the Other snarled at her.

She took a deep breath and faced Zoro. This time she put a hand on Zoro's shoulder, his skin far too hot as she met his eyes. He had to have a fever on top of popping all of those stitches; the lack of rest was not helping. He needed to stop this before he really did put himself at death's door.

"You haven't asked the right question, Zoro."

Zoro watched her for some time, either thinking on her words or what the question should be; more likely he knew and wasn't ready to forgive himself so easily.

Riyo gave him a tight smile. "You can't always be perfect. Luck, grit, determination, training. They're not always enough. Some things take time, Zoro. The strongest, tallest trees grow the slowest. And sometimes our best isn't enough even after all of that. I know better than anyone," she added softly.

He frowned at her, but it seemed that was the encouragement he needed. "Would you ever willingly harm this crew?"

"Never," she said immediately. "I would never harm the crew when I'm in control."

"And that's the problem. There's more than you in your head. What about them?"

"Ryuko is fine. She has the attention span of a goldfish. She'd be more interested in cuddling with Chopper or chasing down a sea king than harming the crew--as long as no one attacked her first. The Other is the concern. The Other chased Vivi. The Other disarmed you. The Other lives in black and white... _pit_ or not- _pit._ There is no gray. The crew would have been safe. Mostly. Usopp would have been questionable but everyone else is _pit_ and it at least recognizes Sanji as a potential predator rather than prey as hes not _pit._ Vivi and Carue aren't crew and aren't _pit_ and she chose possibly the perfectly worst moment to interrupt. She-" Riyo finally had to turn away from Zoro, turn away from the sea, and wrap her arms around her stomach as she hunched over and remembered the wall with the open wound. The wall she couldn't fix. Not now.

"What happened?"

Riyo shook her head at Zoro's sharp voice. He knew something was wrong.

"She stopped me in the middle of repairing the wall. It was cracked from somnum. I had to clean the breaxh out, widen it to properly fix it, and when the Other surged up to take control it shattered the crack into a crevasse. Not really a hole, but not something I can fix any longer-not without rebuilding the entire wall and that wouldn't end well for anyone. The Other is recovering after the energy it took to break out, but it's not held inside any more. Not really. It's only biding its time. The next time I'm distracted it will take control. Every time I lose focus for a moment it will try to take control."

Zoro strung together enough curses even Riyo was impressed with the creativity.

"Yeah," she sighed. She abruptly settled herself on her knees on the deck, gesturing to Zoro to sit in front of her.

"Have a seat. This is going to take a little while."

Riyo knew it was going to come to this at some point. Honestly she expected it would be her Alpha, but having observed Luffy and now having the deepened bond with the rubber boy she knew he truly didn't care. Their pasts meant nothing to him but what had shaped them into the crew he loved today. Luffy accepted them all unconditionally.

Chopper silently worried about Riyo's mental health but the young doctor was too kind to force any sort of tests or drugs on her (not that they'd do much good with her metabolism).

Nami had lived her own version of Riyo's past; the navigator didn't need to poke at Riyo's scars for any more nightmare fuel.

Zoro was different. Zoro needed to know. As the first mate and her Beta he had every right to understand the dangers to the crew and pit even if the danger was from herself. Especially if the danger was from herself.

She placed her hands on the deck and bent forward until her forehead touched the wood at Zoro's knees. It was the most formal way to apologize in Zoro's culture. She held the position before sitting back and catching Zoro's gaze.

She did not blink as her scales, always covering her torso and upper thighs in a dark blue yo protect her human modesty, spread. Where they usually sat just beneath her human skin on her extremities, a hint of definition colored to blend in with the tan of her human skin, they rose and thickened until she wore her complete scales and true coloring on her human body. She was still in her full human form but with the deep blues, blacks, and purples of an adult sea queen.

Zoro's face was utter confusion.

"I take every responsibility for what the Other did when I lost control of it during my meditation. I respect your dedication to your craft, your dream, and the tools you use. Your blades deserve the honor and care you wield them with. The Other has no concept of this."

Riyo's voice cracked as she confronted what she'd have to share with him. The truth was hard to remember, even so many years later. She took a shaky breath and then she bared her past as she had bared her scales.

"This is the second most closely guarded secret of sea queens." Riyo didn't need to add the trust she was giving him. "Centuries ago, shortly after I was hatched, sea queens as a species were forced to make a decision that changed the way we survive. We used to be complete loners, isolated by choice and hardly ever crossing paths with another sea queen; we certainly never searched out a pit.

"The pit was an adaptation we chose in order to survive our then-current environment. We were fighting our one and only predator and losing." She saw Zoro's unspoken curiosity. "Humans, Zoro. Humans had discovered sea stone and they were using it against us in order to capture, control, and cage us."

"Sea stone?"

Ah, they probably had no idea of the metal's existence or danger. "Harder than diamond and with the properties of the sea. It weakens devil fruit users as if they had been thrown in the water and is a common material for weapons in the Grand Line to counteract the fruits, particularly in the New World. It's also addictive to sea queens when consumed in large quantities. It's an almost unknown weakness for us outside the World Government."

"Addic-"

"High as a kite," Riyo cut him off. This wasn't a pretty picture to paint. "It occurs in small quantities naturally and sea queens use it much like alcohol for humans. Acceptable in moderation. If we're forced to consume too much at once it triggers an addictive response for the rest of our lives. We crave it. It already smells divine, like catnip to a cat, but it becomes an obsession once we've crossed that line. We lose all control, all sense of self, to have one more bite. If we get enough of it we become disoriented, confused, lethargic, and may even slip into a coma and finally death. It's one of the only semi-reliable ways to kill us and make sure we stay dead," she finished blandly.

Zoro stared at her in horror.

"Why would you ever cross that line?"

"We weren't given a choice, Zoro," she said softly. The screams, the rage, the hate still echoed in her mind. "The true world is not a nice place. If you want to survive, that's the truth you'll have to find for yourself. How you respond to that truth will define who you are and what you become on the Grand Line."

"Are you…"

The question trailed off and Riyo filled in the words.

Was she addicted, weak, compromised?

She had to remind herself she wasn't a hatchling any more as she stared into the sky and sea.

She wasn't a victim any more even if she would carry the scars of that time for thr rest of her long life.

"Yes."

He nodded, and Riyo knew he understood the things unsaid and the pain fogging the air. It was more than she expected.

"As I said, when we chose to adapt the _pit_ it was not undertaken lightly. It was similar to when the Other forced our body to alter our vocal chords to speak while Changed, but this was a species-wide decision for a specific genetic alteration. Sea queens have never before or since that day made such a drastic change."

This time she couldn't stop the small smile. She had been too young to remember a time before the pull for _pit,_ at least not clearly.

"Our _pit_ is our heart and soul. Our single purpose in life is to fill our _pit_ with worthy family, protect them, guide them, and ensure we meet any and all of theirs needs."

"Our dreams," Zoro stated simply.

She gave him a quick smile. "Yes. All of your dreams are mine now. But it goes deeper than that. In order to win against the humans, it wasn't enough to need a _pit._ Anyone could step in and out of the role, then." Riyo had to look away. She watched the sun glitter on the waves as she remembered what it felt like to have her soul ripped out of her body and her mind split into jagged edges.

[Wrongwrongwrong to let them go.]

 _It had been. It was. But healing now. New bonds, deeper bonds to keep them safe._ Ryuko grumbled in agreement and settled at that thought.

"We needed to have control of who we selected and we needed to make sure they couldn't ever be taken away without severe consequences." She trailed off, lost in the pain of that day.

"What consequences?" Zoro prompted.

She stared at Zoro. Felt their bond pulse and thicken as she spilled her past. A Beta's need to protect surrounding her in warm strength

She wasn't as shocked as she should have been to realize there were pulses from Luffy, Nami, and Chopper as well, a steady flow of comfort curled in her chest from her _pit_ as they responded instinctively to her emotional pain.

Maybe there was something to this nee kind of _pit_ bond.

"We form a mental and metaphysical bond with every member of our _pit._ It was meant only to provide a warning when they experienced extreme emotion. Pain, fear, anger. It was our warning they needed protection and help. We would feel the emotion as our own. If we failed, if they were lost...depending on their given role it could be anything from physical illness to severe depression. Worst cases are bouts of hallucination, manic episodes, mindless rage, and insanity. And in the case of our Alpha: death. Every time. Without fail."

"How-?"

"How did I break our most immutable law that's hardwired into our every cell and instinct?" she finished with a bitter smirk.

It wasn't hard to put two and two together and realize that Roger had been her Alpha. She took a deep breath and let it go slowly. It wasn't going to get any easier so she might as well get it out now.

"Our chosen Alpha is the fulcrum for the entire pit. The Alpha bond is the source of all others. It will always be the strongest bond aside from the Sigma."

"Wait," Zoro said, "Ryuko said that you needed your Sigma, whatever or whoever that is." Zoro's hands rested on his knees and he had a small frown as he tried to put the pieces together. "You keep talking about the _pit_ and the Sigma as if they're two entirely different things."

"Our Sigma is a conversation for a later time, but in a sense that is true. The _pit_ is required. The Sigma came later as a natural mutation. The Sigma is as necessary as blood and as ephemeral as Luffy's attention span. A male becoming a potential Sigma is a factor of nature and nurture, something we can sense as they grow closer to the title. Any male can become a Sigma match with the right personality and factors at play, but once acknowledged as a Sigma match the sea queen has to choose the male and the male has to survive the courting," she smirked.

Zoro shook his head. "I'm not touching that. What happened to the previous _pit_ bonds?"

{Tactful.}

Riyo ignored it.

"The day Roger was executed was the day my mind shattered. The longer I'm physically with my _pit,_ particularly the core _pit_ -you, Luffy, Nami, and Chopper-the deeper I'm connected. I was with them for over 15 years. The bonds were more than set by that time.

"I shouldn't have survived Roger. I should have died with my Alpha. But I had to live, for more reasons than I care to share right now. To save my sanity and innocent lives from my rampage, Ray, my Beta then, forced me to compartmentalize each aspect of myself. He kept my body exhausted with sparring and isolated me to a barren stretch of the New World while I worked through meditation for months to lock away every severed bond and instinct." That was the PG version of it anyway. "The Other was created in that process and every darker aspect of my psyche as a sea queen is now embodied in it or withheld by it.

"You already know there are three main personalities. I am the human aspect. I share, in a sense, my mindspace with the beast. The one Luffy named Ryuko. The beast is my surface instinct, impulsive and hedonistic. It's guided by my most basic drives; it really is more like a dumb animal than anything. Food, prey, predator, mate. It has no self control or focus.

"Separate from us is the Other, although that's a bit of a misnomer. It is both its own entity and the gateway to the broken bonds that were severed with Roger's death. The Other embodies my deepest instincts and fears, and has locked away access to my strongest abilities as a sea queen; that was the only way to keep me alive at the time.

"The Other has no morality. It sees only in black and white, strong and weak. It does nothing but plot and plan and it will destroy anything it finds useless or to be in the way. It respects direct _pit_ only, in the loosest sense of respect. Anything outside of that sphere is on its own."

She paused. This time it was Zoro who placed a hand on her knee in silent support. She smiled as best she could at him.

"When Luffy found me I was almost dead. A few more hours and I wouldn't be here. _Somnum_ is part of our biology, a suspension state when we've hit our limits that allows for increased regeneration and more efficient metabolism. With the Break I'm the only one that actually sleeps now, although Ryuko and the Other are weaker and sluggish.

"Since I normally maintain the wall around the Other and this was the first time I had hit somnum since the Break, the Other had the chance to crack through. I-I thought having a pit again would help...but every time I see any of you in danger my instincts take over. It's harder and harder to control the beast and Other."

"And Vivi interrupted when you were trying to fix it. Now it'll never be fixed."

She nodded.

"Finding the Sigma who is coming up, not quite a Sigma yet but almost there, is the only chance for me to settle my mind and have a chance at containing the Other. As our mate the Sigma bond is deeper than even the Alpha. We tie our life force to him; he becomes a sort of baseline for our body and mind. The Sigma is the sun to the planetary orbit of our _pit._ A central anchor."

Riyo sat in silence as Zoro took that all in. She glanced up and over Zoro's shoulder at a shift of shadow and caught Sanji staring out across the railing from where he leaned absently against the wall. Riyo wasn't sure how long he had been there or how much he had heard even if he only seemed to be taking a casual break. She knew better.

Sanji knowing the truth wasn't as alarming a thought as she had expected. Huh.

"So what's with the scales?" Zoro finally asked.

Right.

"This is the most formal way I can apologize in my culture. Displaying my full scales in human form like this js a sign of trust. I cannot hide any flaws in the armor."

She did not break eye contact as she lifted Zoro's right hand to press his fingers to the loose scale on her left side that she had noticed yesterday. It stuck up oddly, as easy to spot in its lack of uniformity as a broken feather shaft in a bird's wing. She bristled her side scales, wrapped his fingers around the loose one, and together they pulled.

Her scales rippled reflexively at the pain in a wave of pale pink that radiated from her stomach out to her fingers and toes.

Zoro stared at the color, then at the bloody bit of scale in his hand.

The skin bed bled sluggishly as a patch of raw, red flesh about an inch square was left exposed over her secondary heart. She could faintly see the dark black outline of the new scale coming in underneath, thicker than the one that was lost. Similar to a shark losing a tooth for the next to fall into place...except each ecalecame back stronger and stronger again.

Sea queens were born of stone and steel; they grew with age and pressure and heat into diamond and graphene.

Riyo let go of Zoro's hand so that he was staring at the scale-highly confused and mildly alarmed. The scale did have the growth bed and bits of flesh still attached.

She left her scales on full display and settled before Zoro to meet his questioning gaze.

"This is a scale taken from over my secondary heart. This scale is my shield, given freely to my Beta to show my commitment to the _pit's_ protection, and my trust that they will protect my truths in turn. It is a symbol of my apology and an affirmation of my promise to provide for, sustain, and to serve them, even at the cost of my own goals or life.

"This is the most formal way I can apologize to you in my culture, even more so with the scale having been pulled by your hand. When the protection of one of our own is in question, give them that scale. Even the Other will acknowledge a part of ourselves given freely, no matter who the bearer may be."

There. She said it. She dropped her head to the deck again in a human bow.

"I understand if you can't forgive me. What the Other did because of my lack of control was insulting, dangerous, and dishonorable. I made a promise to myself to protect this crew-everyone on the crew-and the minute it was tested I broke that promise. I will accept any decision you give."

It was the Beta's duty to remove threats to the _pit._ It was the Beta's duty to pass judgement; the Beta's judgement superseded even Alpha when it came to the pit's protection.

It would be well within his rights to remove her from the crew. The decision would kill her--literally--but the _pit_ and crew would be safe.

"Dammit. Get up," he finally growled.

She jerked her head up at the gruff words. Zoro had stood and was now at the rail, arms crossed and scowling at the waves.

"What you did sucked, but it wasn't your fault you used the skills you have. I wasn't even in your league. That was my failing that I have to accept and learn from. Knowing what I do now, I know what to look out for."

"Thank you, Zoro," she whispered. The strength to understand and admit his own weakness was staggering.

This crew always seemed to amaze her.

Zoro suddenly turned his gaze on her. She jumped when he dropped to his knees to mirror her bow from before.

"I want you to train me," he bit out. "Show me how to get strong enough to protect us. Seconds should not define the lifespan of our dreams. Luffy will be King of the Pirates. My pride, my dream, is nothing if I cannot ensure that happens."

Riyo place a gentle hand on his shoulder, nudging him up.

"It would be my greatest honor to train you, Roronoa Zoro."

"Thank you."

He stared at her a few seconds, then glanced down at the scale in his hand.

"Exactly how many hearts do you have?"

"Really not the point, Zoro."


	12. Chapter Eleven

_Chapter 11 - Promise_

 _Edited: 12/2017_

 _Posted: 11/2016_

 _AN: This is pure Luffy/Riyo fluff to set up some key scenes in the future. I struggle with Luffy (and I'm posting this through the android app which doesn't help) so let me know how it is!_

~\/~

The call went out mid morning.

Usopp, of course, was the one to catch sight of the barely discernible speck from where he was tinkering with something or other on deck.

Even Riyo had only felt the sure pull of an island's magnetic field an hour earlier. Usopp catching sight of it, without a scope of any kind, was impressive.

Alabasta was on the horizon.

They all watched the island grow as they sailed closer. There was an odd undercurrent of nervous energy in the crew, everyone aware of Vivi's tense body language and worry; they were sailing blindly into a nation on the brink of civil war...if it hadn't erupted already.

Nami gave them the two hour warning to landfall barring any further Grand Line craziness like they had with the swan guy. The reminder that Alabasta was a desert island was clear with their proximity; the sky was nearly cloudless and the temperature kept climbing with the sun.

Even with the sea breeze they were already sweating. The heat was sapping even Luffy's energy. The hyperactive captain was currently sprawled in the shade of the mast with his tongue lolling out. Elsewhere, Sanji had shed his suit jacket as he watched Nami review some maps in her bikini. Zoro was shirtless with clean bandages where he was napping in the shade afforded by the galley.

Chopper had angrily cornered the swordsman after Riyo's talk yesterday morning (Riyo may or may not have mentioned Zoro was borderline maiming himself with his training) and put him on non-optional rest until they arrived at Alabasta; Chopper accepted that trying to keep Zoro out of a fight on the island was going to be as productive as turning Luffy into a vegetarian.

Speaking of Chopper, the zoan had been hiding in the cool shade below deck since early this morning. Poor hatchling was not handling the heat well with his fur.

Riyo was mentally dealing with the heat in her own way where she was sprawled in the full sunlight on the deck. Everyone had stared at her when she changed into her small form and started chortling and rolling around on the nearly burning (for humans) wood. The energy she absorbed from the heat was wonderful. She was sprawled on her stomach, all four limbs and tail splayed out for maximum absorption.

As much as she loved the heat, Riyo was a creature of the sea. Dry heat was a double-edged joy. She needed the sea to survive-she plain needed water of any kind. Dehydration was much more dangerous to her than a human in the moisture-less environment. Humans could typically last a week or so without liquid; sea queens maxed out at three or four days before they became lethargic and eventually comatose. There was no somnum to save her from dehydration. There would only be nothingness and then death.

Peachy.

"Riyo?"

Riyo lifted her head to look at where Luffy had turned his own to watch her. She tilted her head in question at him.

"Let's talk before we get to the island."

She deflated. She was wondering when this would come up. "Of course, Luffy."

The rubber boy bounced up, heat forgotten as his usual energy made itself known.

"Come on!"

Riyo finished her change back to human in time for Luffy to grab her hand and slingshot them to Merry's figure head. They landed with an oomph against the wood.

"Ow," she deadpanned.

"Shishishishishi," Luffy giggled, holding Hat in place as he plopped down on the sheep. He patted the limited space next to him in invitation. Riyo sighed but squeezed herself next to her captain. She highly doubted he enjoyed the extra body heat, but she wasn't going to question him.

They sat in the quiet for a few minutes. There was only the rock of the ship and the distant bickering between Sanji and Zoro-the chef must have caught Zoro sleeping outside the kitchen.

The silence stretched and Riyo found more to enjoy. The waves breaking on the hull as Merry cut forward through the sea, the spray from the water, the wind through her hair.

She could see why Luffy chose this as his special seat. It was the flavor of everything the ocean should be; a sample platter of water, wind, and freedom.

They watched the glittering ocean in the peace of the moment. It was an endless pool laid before them, garnished in diamonds and pearls. With the sun cupped in its fingers, Riyo could almost remember the first haze of joy she felt slipping through those ripples and waves as a hatchling. Her home.

Riyo hadn't realized how much she needed that reminder of home until Luffy gave her these few minutes to unwind.

But this was Luffy, and he never stayed silent for too long, especially if he had something on his mind.

"I know you're stronger than all the rest of us combined, Riyo." Riyo stilled, thrown off by Luffy's solemn tone in the safety of his special seat. "You sailed with the Pirate King; you've seen the end of the Grand Line. I know that."

Riyo had to remind herself to breathe as she stared at this boy who laughed with the joy of a sunrise and lived with the heart of a child. This sunshine-boy she thought had never seen more than a few clouds.

Only Luffy could shatter the impression he had created of himself with words that carried the weight of a two by four to the face.

"We can't rely on you for every fight coming up, Riyo, and I know there will be lots. I can't be Pirate King without proving to everyone else I'm strong enough-that we're strong enough as a crew. We need to get stronger individually so we can protect each other always."

Riyo stared at him. He was entirely serious; he was sincerely boiling down the seas-knew-how-herculean task of defying the entirety of the current socio-political world structure into a few 'fights.'

Riyo blinked as her brain tried to process the world through Luffy's eyes...before she realized the kind of simplistic focus it took to be Monkey D. Luffy scared her shitless.

Luffy, of course, had no idea he had thrown Riyo's entire world view off kilter with a few sincere words.

Luffy sat back on his hands to clap his sandaled feet together. The dissonance of the usual action and the mental sound of her wish for sanity shattering was beyond jarring.

Fuck it. Sanity was overrated.

"Your instinct thing, I heard Chopper say you were hiding your real ore-orca-"

"Aura," she supplied without thinking.

Had everyone been eavesdropping on what was supposed to be a private conversation with her Omega?

"Yeah! Your aura. You use it to hide how strong you actually are, right? You used it on the fish restaurant, the fishmen on Nami's island, and on Vivi too, didn't you?"

She swallowed the pain of that last reminder and nodded, not really sure where he was going with this.

"The Marines only have pictures of you in your big dragon body for your bounty poster, because you didn't really stay in your human shape then? That's what Nami said."

She felt like a trained monkey, nodding habitually at his questions.

Luffy listened. He listened and he remembered when it mattered and if he ever really decided to put the effort into thinking like this more often Riyo was 96% certain he could take over the world as the most blunt, ignorantly efficient leader ever.

The reflexive shudder of scales at that thought was not voluntary as her brain kept going with that possibility. Yeah, she was now 98% certain-and that was the final chink of her sanity crashing to the ground.

"The marines don't know what you look like as a human." He grinned at her like it was some ingenious secret. Hell, it kind of was and Riyo was fully on board with this. "And they won't expect you to be with us. I know this fight for Vivi is going to have other important people there because she's a Princess and people will notice royalty. They'll notice us."

99% positive now, seas damn it.

Luffy stared up at the wispy excuse for clouds. He suddenly balled his hands into fists and rapped his knuckles on his head, growling to himself.

Riyo stared in horrified fascination. She thought she saw some steam ghosting from his ears.

He hit his head a few more times. That was definitely steam.

"I want you to keep yourself hidden as long as you can. What you are and how strong you are," he rushed out.

But the next words made her forget her internal debate (abject horror) of Luffy's version of a dictatorship (meat for all and all for meat?) because apparently that's what her brain did when she decided to accept the inevitable lack of sanity when dealing with this crew.

"Ugh, thinking hurts!" He shook his head before he looked at her. "I hate it, but you need to be another rookie like us. It's your choice and I won't force you, but I don't want them to hurt you or hunt you because of the past when we're not strong enough yet to help you."

"Wha-" she started weakly, not even sure what she wanted to say. Luffy seemed to understand, however.

"I know the government wants to kill you because you sailed with Roger and because you know where the One Piece is. And because you're a sea queen. The crazy granny doctor told me how sea queens are killed by the marines, and how the government will take you from us if they can. She tried to tell me more but I made her stop. That's for you to share if you want to. I only care that you're my nakama now and I want you to stay safe." Luffy stared at her. "You're mine, Riyo, just like I'm yours. And I'll kick anyone's ass who tries to take you from me."

Luffy's voice was final. Not even a promise; it was a fact as absolute as the sky was blue and water was wet.

Riyo had never told Roger of her past, and Roger had never asked; Riyo knew the Pirate King had pieced most of it together, though. But here was Luffy-how could he-she choked on the abrupt laughter as Luffy blinked at her.

Even Roger wouldn't have turned down someone who had the information.

The laughter may have been bordering on hysteric.

Luffy had every resource at his disposal in Kureha. Riyo didn't know if Kureha had been keeping it gentle for Luffy by telling him they'd kill her or if Luffy had made that assumption from Kureha himself.

Her death would be the kindest outcome if the World Government caught her.

Riyo would destroy the world, would watch the seas burn if they ever caught her and tried anything more than to put her down like the animal they claimed she was.

But Riyo knew her Captain, her Alpha, would hunt to the ends of the oceans if she was ever taken. Roger, for all his temper, had lacked this level of stupid, selfless, endless conviction. There was truth to the saying that it was a fine line between genius and insanity.

Luffy was likely a bit of both and she had no idea what the hells of Impel Down to do with that.

"Luffy, I'm-"

Luffy waited patiently as she cut herself off. What was she? Why did she always have to push away anything that possibly looked like love or hope?

[But Alpha will unders-]

{We kill anything we touch. Hope burns us.}

Right. That.

"We're not safe, Luffy. Everything we touch, every hope we've ever had…" She shook her head as her eyes closed in some attempt to block out the memories. "You'll all be hurt because of us. Because of what I am."

Not safe for the crew. Not safe for the world.

"Yeah. I know you're not safe." Her heart dropped before she felt a warm, rubbery hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look into that grinning face. "But being a pirate isn't about being safe or secure; it's about adventure and freedom and nakama. Any one of us could make a mistake. I don't always listen when I should, and Usopp could blow up the ship, Sanji or Zoro could get caught up in a fight and get hurt or be too late to keep someone else from getting hurt, Nami could miss a storm or whirly thingy or something, Chopper could-"

"Yes, I get it," Riyo cut him off. "But those are all mistakes or accidents. The Other is not an accident. It's a very real part of what I am. It's been taken to the extreme, but it's still me," she said softly. "The Other is still me, Luffy. I am a monster at my core."

She stared at her Captain. Hat was casting a shadow from the high sun as he stared at her, eyes dark and grin gone.

It didn't stop her from asking the words lingering in the back of her mind since that day. "Why did you take me on, Luffy?"

Why did he invite her into the crew knowing she could kill them all?

If she was going to truly commit to this insane idiot-genius' plan, she needed to know what he saw in her. A pathetic, dying lump in a cell rotting away her life because she couldn't be assed to save it herself anymore.

The sudden wave of rage she felt over her Alpha bond made her physically reel back from her captain.

She rolled as gracefully as a stoned moose ass over elbows ina flailing of limbs and landed on the deck behind Merry's figurehead. She sorted herself out enough to sit up on her elbows to stare at her captain from where she was laid out.

Luffy had stood up. His shadow covered the spot she laid in and with the sun at his back, his anger burning across their bond, and his Will staining the air…

Riyo could barely breathe.

This. This was the presence of the future Pirate King.

"Don't ever call yourself a monster again, Riyo. You're not a monster and you deserve to live! I don't care what you are or how old you are or what you've done! No matter what anyone else says, even you, you're my nakama and I'm never, ever letting you go even when you're being stupid!"

The wind shifted, the boat turned, and the sunlight dimmed; suddenly the Pirate King was gone and there was only Luffy staring down at her as if that future man never existed.

A rubber arm stretched out and Riyo found herself grabbing the hand without thought to bounce back to her feet. The same arm wrapped around her shoulders as Luffy turned back to face the sea, forcing her to snap into his side.

Riyo wasn't sure how long they sat there. If she listened hard there was the sound of paper as Nami checked a map on deck, the clink of metal as Zoro cleaned his katanas in preparation to land, and even more distant was Sanji's humming.

It was surreal listening to the crew go on as if that glimpse of the future, that moment of possibility, had never happened.

"Do you know what I thought when I saw you?"

Riyo jumped slightly at Luffy's question. She cut off her instant thought of pity and self-recrimination and instead shook her head silently.

At this point she really had no idea what went on in that head of his.

"You reminded me of my brother." Luffy's smile was soft and infinitely sad. "You were lonely and it was easier to hurt yourself than to wait for someone else to do it first."

Riyo had to do a double take. Luffy had a brother? Since when? How? But her captain went on and Riyo was spellbound.

"You looked at me and I knew a part of you still hoped for someone to care, just like him. No matter what you said or what you did to push us all away, that part of you hadn't died. Not yet. Not ever."

Luffy smiled a small, small smile at the sea. There was an echoing bitter-sweet ache in her chest across their bond. This was a new side to her Alpha, another piece of the puzzle turned face up for her to ponder.

The picture was only getting more complex for such a seemingly simple front.

"You'd lost yourself a bit inside your head," Luffy suddenly smiled at her, a simple smile, not overly large, that spoke of acceptance and love, "and I decided I wanted to be the one to lead you out. I'll always bring you back, Riyo, no matter where you go."

Her eyes prickled at the ridiculous declaration. She was so seas-damned tired of tears, but that didn't stop the warm track down her cheek.

"Why?"

The word seemed to be ripped from her soul.

[Why? Why try? Why will Alpha try?]

{Why?} echoed the Other in angry disbelief. It was still recovering from the struggle the other day, biding its time, but even it could not fathom this boy-man it had chosen as Alpha.

"Because you deserve to live. Being King of the Pirates means being the free-est man on the sea. And freedom means nothing without my friends to share it with."

Her watery smile said it all as she leaned her head on Luffy's shoulder. A moment later a straw hat was put gently on her head.

She had no idea how long they sat like that, enjoying the sound of the ship and sea, the view filling with Alabasta's sandy shores.

"I know we're your family, your _pit,_ Riyo, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to die for us. Pretend you have a devil fruit; that way we can protect you for as long as we can."

She choked on a laugh. What an evil little mastermind.

She was never getting her sanity back. She kind of didnt even miss it when she snuggled further into her Alpha's side and felt the slight scratch of the straw on her head.

"You're my crew and my _pit._ I don't want you to protect us at the cost of yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

The crew wasn't strong enough to take on the World Government.

Riyo knew they weren't.

Luffy knew they weren't.

Not yet.

"Promise me. I don't like hiding what you are...but we both know what'll happen. So you'll have to protect yourself while we get strong, okay? Promise me that you won't sacrifice yourself for us. I know you would die to save us, but I would live to save you."

She took a shuddering breath in before releasing it slowly. Damn Luffy and his stupid logic and sincerity and love and pride and everything else.

She sighed again, steadier this time.

She was going to let Luffy get his way in this and she couldnt even give a shit because it was the right choice in the end.

"I promise. But I promise only as long as no one on the crew or _pit_ will die from my inaction. As long as no one is in immediate life-threatening danger with absolutely no way out. As long as there's a way, I will not show my True Change or give away what I am if I can help it or unless you release me from the promise. I'll pretend I've eaten a devil fruit." She took a deep breath. It was one thing to know for herself. It was another to say it out loud. "I trust you with my life, Luffy. And I'll trust you with theirs. No matter what someone says or does, even against my _pit,_ unless someone will die I will stay in control of Ryuko and the Other."

Maybe something a little smaller than Merry for her max Change while she was pretending? She didn't want anyone asking too many questions. That would only be for extreme scenarios anyway. She could do more than enough damage in her hybrid form.

Luffy nodded sagely in acceptance of the compromise. "Good."

She stuck his hat back on his head and abruptly shifted into her smallest form to curl up in his lap.

He scratched at her eye ridges as they watched their next adventure off Merry's bow.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter 13 - His Son, Lonely Hearts, and Epsilons

Updated: 12/2017

Published: 11/2016

#FFFFFFFFF#

AN: Merry Christmas everyone! Extra long chapter for you and you and you! Thank you so much for all the faves, follows, and reviews so far. I had a hell of a time with Ace, first time writing him, so hope he's in character for you all. Also posting with the app on my phone again (and getting more creative with the breaks because of it) because I'm still getting 503s on the computer. Get a new datacenter or servers or something, FF. This is getting ridiculous.

#FFFFFFFFF#

"Riyo, keep an eye on that bottomless pit. I don't want to spend a beli more than necessary! And we need to keep a low profile!"

Said the woman screeching at the top of her lungs. Although Riyo was glad to know Nami had her priorities straight: captain babysitting, money, and then damage control.

She threw a wave over her shoulder in acknowledgement as she followed Luffy's rabid run at a more sedate pace.

Luffy was like a bloodhound on a scent trail. He veered off to the left and unerringly followed a seemingly random direction, cutting through shoppers and stalls without a care for the angry tide left behind.

Riyo was already grinning when Luffy launched himself at a bar at the end of the street.

She scanned his destination quickly for any ill intent. Knowing Luffy, he'd manage to inadvertently offend some centuries old custom by charging in blindly as usual.

[Bwahahahahahahaha!]

The maniacal laughter from the beast should have been her first warning.

Riyo made it through the door as Luffy slammed into the back of a marine. Considering Ryuko abruptly lost it, cackling in their mind and rolling in mirth, Riyo was going to guess the marine was what had set it off.

Riyo had no memory of the man. She could only guess they must have encountered him sometime during somnum.

She had a second's impression of him as he flew. A solid-built human with white hair, a heavy white marine's jacket, and a lot of cigars. He had the buzzing energy her instincts associated with a fruit user--the same buzz as the man he slammed into at the bar.

Both of the poor bastards went crashing through the bar, through the back wall...and then through more walls by the sound of it.

Riyo shrugged. They'd be fine.

The beast seemed to be collecting itself now that the marine was gone. The fanged grin in her mind wasn't reassuring.

[Smokey tried to hurt Alpha.]

Riyo stopped and cocked her head. "Hurt how?"

A few of the locals in the crowd--which, why was there a crowd to begin with?--glanced at her when she spoke. She ignored them.

{Take his head,} the Other supplied disinterestedly.

"Really," she purred. It wasn't a nice sound.

Luffy glanced at the wreckage of the bar before sitting. "Hey, you know you have a giant hole in your bar?"

Riyo laughed as she hopped up to sit on the stool next to her captain. She propped her head lazily in her hand while she rested an elbow on the wooden bar top. Nami had loaned her a cotton, orange strapless dress to use in the desert heat and she settled it around her knees.

"That was you, Luffy."

He blinked. "Oh. Oops."

"That's all you have to say?!" the crowd roared behind them.

She swung her bare feet since she couldn't touch the floor from the stool and giggled again. No shoes garnered her a few odd looks considering she was walking barefoot through scorching sand and stone, but people had seen weirder on the Grand Line.

Luffy completely forgot about the hole to grin at her. "Are you hungry, Riyo? We need food, bar guy!"

"I'm not, but thank you, Luffy. You eat."

Luffy blinked, as if his brain couldn't process someone turning down food. "Are you sick?"

Riyo laughed again. She seemed to do that a lot with Luffy. "No, not at all. Ryuko and I are thinking. We can't decide if we want to dismember that marine slowly and leave him alive as a useless head and torso, or if we should maul him and watch him bleed out on the floor. We're also deciding how we're going to get out of paying for your property damage while avoiding Nami. And philosophizing if this crew is actually capable of keeping a low profile. Or at least not getting involved, detained, engaged, or otherwise embroiled in unknown local contentions."

The whole crowd in the bar that had gathered for whatever reason blinked.

"Did I hear that right?" an old man asked the woman standing next to him a little too loudly.

The woman nodded slowly.

"What'd the marine do?"

And that is why she agreed to Luffy's promise. He always understood her context. He didn't judge her less-than-socially-acceptable ramblings.

"Ryuko said he tried to take your head at some point."

"Really?" He scratched his head below the brim of his hat. "I don't remember that."

"Don't worry about it. Here, food." Riyo shoved the plate the barkeep placed in front of them with a shaking hand at Luffy. Distraction complete.

While Luffy ate the barkeep stared at her like she was a rabid dog about to snap its leash which was completely unjustified.

She was embracing the freedom of her new promise to Luffy. She wouldn't actually (probably wouldn't) do it.

Most likely.

Surely.

That wasn't saying--since she was going to accept the inevitable loss of her mind in the face of all that is Luffy, willingly chained by her promise to the boy anyway--she wasn't going to bring everyone else into the rubber hurricane of insanity with her.

She stared back at the barkeep. And didn't blink. The perks to being a sea queen: a clear membrane for her eyes in any form. She could always win staring contests.

After a few seconds Riyo smiled innocently at the human, but she didn't blink. Luffy continued eating, blissfully unaware that Riyo was contemplating which joints to start with if she did go the dismembering route with the marine while staring down the human.

A rubber hand patted her head as it was stretched out to pick up a new plate of food, startling her from her staring. She looked at her captain.

He grinned at her around the unidentifiable mush piled in his mouth.

Riyo sighed but smiled back at him, relaxing against the bar. She thought she heard the barkeep give a sigh of relief.

Luffy obviously wasn't as unaware as she thought. It may have been due to the deepened bond or his own skill, Riyo had no idea. At this point she would assume nothing about Luffy's perception, as contradictory as that sentence seemed on the surface.

Riyo turned her attention to the hole in the wall instead. She was waiting with a smirk for the marine when he stomped through and zeroed in on them.

"Strawhat! I've been looking for you!"

Luffy didn't stop eating as he stared at the marine. And ate and stared. And kept eating and staring.

He honestly didn't remember the man. Riyo grinned wider.

[Smokey. Won't forget him.]

{Tried to hurt Alpha.}

"Oh please, I'm sure you didn't even acknowledge Luffy at that point."

{Mine,} came the dangerous snarl.

She rolled her eyes.

Smokey, as the beast called him (and aptly going by the lit cigar), stopped short when Luffy didn't even slow down shoveling his food in. Probably didn't help Riyo was talking to the air.

The marine stared at them as if he couldn't decide if they were serious or not.

"Dis dah muhreen?"

"Yep," Riyo said.

Luffy swallowed his mouthful. Stared at the man. Looked at her. Looked back at the man. Stared back at her and then his eyes widened comically as he abruptly leaned forward and shoved everything edible on the bar counter into his mouth like a demented chipmunk.

"Bad's Bomer!"

"Oh, so Smoker is his name. Figured Smokey was a nickname," Riyo said calmly.

"Strawhat!" the man growled, a scowl firmly on his face.

Luffy grabbed Riyo's arm and shot up fast enough to knock over his stool as he scattered the crowd and dashed for the door, cheeks bulging.

Riyo let Luffy's arm stretch farther and farther while she stared at Smoker.

"Sorry to cut our meeting short, Smoker. You seem like a perfectly nice marine man, if a bit obsessive compulsive. Why so serious?" Riyo smiled wider at his deepening scowl and slowly clenching fists. "I'd advise you don't touch a hair on my captain's head. It'd be a shame if I had to kill you and get blood on Nami's dress. She'd charge me an arm and a leg; I'd have to pay her with yours."

Riyo's amicable grin never faded as she wiggled the fingers of her free hand at Smoker. She saw a vein in his forehead pop.

"Toodles!" she called out as she was yanked away.

She thought she heard a voice yell, "Wait, Lu!" as she went, but she was more concerned by the marine's enraged shout and the smoke at their heels.

Awesome. A logia devil fruit.

#FFFFFFFFF#

They led Smoker and his marines on a destructive chase through the city.

Riyo and Ryuko were sniggering and snickering like children the entire time, pulled along by Luffy's hand warm in their own.

At some point they picked up the crew in their mad dash, but that didn't last long with Zoro's sense of direction and Riyo's own nudges to keep them out of the direct line of fire.

Riyo may have alerted more than a few of the dozens of marines chasing Luffy and her accidentally-on-purpose to distract them from the crew.

It didn't encourage her at all when Luffy laughed, clear and free and happy, next to her; when he threw her one of his too wide grins, eyes sparkling with mischief, when he realized what she was doing.

Smoker managed to eventually pin them down, but it was only Riyo and Luffy. The crew, she knew, were already on Merry--she had been tracking them all as they went.

Riyo was too high on adrenaline and adventure and the sound of Luffy's laughter to care about the smoke billowing towards them. She was poised to move herself and Luffy safely out of harm's way when she felt a presence.

A man jumped in front of them from the roof of a building and blocked the attack with a plume of fire. He turned his head to shoot her captain a familiar grin.

Riyo felt her hearts lurch and her stomach drop to her toes.

"Lu, I've been looking all over for you!"

The wind shifted.

A faint scent carried by the sea breeze washed by. A scent burned into her mind decades ago. It was diluted and tinged with the smell of warm wood smoke, different from Smoker's sweet-sharp cigar, and poignantly perfect meshed with the salt in the air.

She remembered her argument with Kureha.

She remembered the angry confusion, choking despair, and brittle loss when old Alpha chose to be executed rather than die on his own terms at sea.

Most of all she remembered the damning hope. The stupid hope that refused to die day after day.

The reason was warm and alive and grinning at Luffy.

This man was Roger's child.

Her world condensed to the man in front of her and the sheer relief slowly filling the hole her hope had been digging year after year after decade into her mind.

Cowboy hat, no shirt, thick beaded necklace, shorts, and heavy boots. There was some kind of lined tattoo on his arm done in black ink she could see from the side and Whitebeard's mark in color covered the expanse of his back.

She knew from her reports from various sea life, tabs she kept on all of the Yonkos, exactly who he was: Portgas D. 'Firefist' Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. One of the Old Man's cherished sons.

Riyo didn't remember falling to her knees onto the stone street next to Luffy.

She didn't remember pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle the keen of Ryuko's pain or the Other's growl of angry disbelief.

This entire time, this whole time, he had been right there. All these years she could have held him, loved him, protected him.

The memories played over and over, the clues, the hints, all of it clicking into place.

Roger's lover Rouge had been pregnant.

Roger died to protect her and his unborn son and lover.

Ace was the wrong age, Riyo could tell; the woman must have held her pregnancy to protect him. Nearly impossible, but rouge could have done it out of anyone Riyo knew.

It explained where Crocus went, her old Omega, when Ray was working to piece her back together. Rouge couldn't have survived the birth having held it so many months.

Baby Ace had been left alone in the world.

Riyo moved the hand from her mouth to reach out to Ace, afraid he might be a cruel mirage from the heat. Her other hand latched onto the thin fabric of Luffy's vest near her head in some attempt to ground herself.

Did Crocus raise him? Did Ray, when she left?

Why did Ace use Portgas? Was it for safety, or something more?

Ace spun further to face them when she fell. His eyes, open and full of exasperated warmth for Luffy, chilled into a careful balance of polite but wary as he looked at her. "Is she okay?"

Oh. No. It wasn't for safety. He didn't use Portgas out of safety at all.

Riyo knew those eyes. She saw them reflected in her crew when they remembered their time before Luffy. She saw them in her own reflection each day.

The world hated the Pirate King. Why would they treat his son any better?

"Luffy--" she cut herself off from using Alpha, no matter how Ryuko was keening it over and over in her mind. Smoker was within hearing distance. "Luffy, he's here. Is he here? He's alive. Buzzing fruit energy. How is he alive? Am I hallucinating again, Luffy? Oh seas, he's here and it's not in my head."

Riyo kept rambling as she stared at the Whitebeard pirate--a successful rookie in his own right and now a division commander for a Yonko. The Strongest Man in the World.

She remembered the reports. He tried to kill the Old Man over a hundred times to claim the title of World's Strongest.

The reports had made her laugh at the time, something too rare, because she knew the Old Man was humoring him.

Now it all made sense and she hated, hated everyone that drove Ace to feel the need to justify his own existence. To separate himself from his blood.

She should have been there to protect him. She should have given him the love he needed.

Deceptively strong arms grabbed her shaking hands and wrapped around her shoulders. Somehow she found herself riding piggy back on Luffy. Her gaze was stuck firmly on the dark haired man.

Roger's son had found Luffy, somehow.

"It's my fault; I should have told her. She's really happy to see you, Ace. I'm gonna take her back to the ship. Take care of Smoker and then you can come meet my crew! Shishishishi!"

Yes, Luffy should have told her, but she couldn't be angry with her Alpha. Seas knew Ace would hate anyone knowing the truth if Riyo had all of the clues right.

"See me? Luffy, what--"

Luffy didn't even wait for a response as he took off at a sprint, a wall of smoke crashing like a tidal wave after them.

It was a good thing Luffy could stretch, or she probably would have broken his collarbones twisting around to see the equally massive wall of flame that met the smoke as the two Commanders went head on.

#FFFFFFFFF#

Riyo was sitting, wrapped in a thick blanket, and drinking a cup of hot cocoa on the deck of the Merry.

No, it was not odd to need the extra heat in over a hundred degree weather, Chopper--you need heat for shock, Chopper. Yes, sea queens can go into shock, Chopper. Be happy I don't need a volcanic vent on the sea floor, Chopper.

Riyo took another drink.

She may have spiked it from Zoro's stash when Sanji wasn't looking.

Sea queens only laid a single egg at the end of their life. One egg in the deepest trenches of the ocean.

Hatchlings were sacrosanct. Children were cherished, no matter the species.

It was an instinct so ingrained even the Other upheld it in their worst rages; they had orphaned entire islands and never made a scratch on a child.

Ace had been abandoned who the hell knows where. He had been abandoned and alone, hunted and hated by the world when he was a defenseless baby. Human babies were even more vulnerable than sea queen hatchlings. At least sea queens were born full grown and self-sufficient.

Ace was hers. He was always hers. He simply didn't know it yet.

[Mine] Ryuko butted in.

{Strong,} the Other snarled. {Mine.}

"Ours," she snapped at them both.

Across the deck, Usopp and Vivi jumped and shifted closer to where Zoro was leaning next to the stairs for the upper deck. The swordsman peeked open an eye to look at her before dismissing the outburst and going back to his upright nap.

Yes, Ace was theirs now. He had always been theirs, he simply didn't know it.

They hadn't known it, either, but Roger's son was never going to be alone again.

Riyo owed the Old Man for giving Ace a home. She knew the Yonko or Marco couldn't have missed who his father was.

Damn.

She pressed the warm mug to her forehead. She'd have to do something to pay back the unexpected debt to Whitebeard. A life debt to a Yonko known as the Strongest Man in the World could get...bloody.

Riyo also wanted to figure out why the hell Ace smelled like the pigeon; she knew Marco's scent from far too many friendly spars together. Her only conclusion made her want to put the idea of phoenix rebirth to the test.

That turkey bonfire was going to have hell to pay if he thought he could claim Ace as his mate without going through her first.

[Stupid flaming pineapple.]

Her claws flexed, gouging the clay of the mug in her hands.

She hadn't been able to retract them since Luffy left with her.

She wouldn't be able until Ace made it to the Merry safe, as stupid as that was. He was an experienced pirate. He had been a captain of his own crew. He had made it to the New World before becoming a commander for Whitebeard. He obviously knew how to take care of himself.

Riyo absently noted Sanji refilling her cup with more hot cocoa. She sloshed it into what was left of the first, hoping some of the alcohol was still there.

It would take enough booze to kill a sea king to get her on the nearest path to drunk, but the burn was a pleasant way to distract herself.

Zoro drank some strong shit.

"Thanks," she muttered into her cup.

"Of course, Riyo-san!"

Riyo stared at the shore and counted the seconds since they left.

She never claimed she was rational about these things.

#FFFFFFFFF#

"...and I've never been able to beat Ace in a fight, even before he got that awesome power! I'd love to try it now!"

They had been sitting offshore for what felt like hours, passing the time as Luffy told them a little about his older brother by three years. Riyo was the only one who seemed to realize it wasn't by blood.

Her wavering attention snapped to Luffy at the railing as Ace vaulted up and knocked the boy out of place to crouch in the spot himself.

"Who do you think you're gonna beat?" he poked at her captain.

Riyo stood up, dropping the blanket to the ground and shoving the empty mug into a hovering Chopper's hands.

Luffy went bounding over to Ace, "Ace? What are you doing out here?"

"Didn't you get my note in Drum, Lu?"

"Huh?" Luffy asked.

Ace waved a hand. "Never mind."

Riyo stood next to Luffy, inches from his brother. She hadn't blinked yet, afraid he would disappear.

"Hey, you're that girl. Glad you're feeling better."

His words were polite, but his eyes were still wary, on edge, distrustful at their core.

Hidden pain aside, he looked so much like Roger it was dejavu.

[Ours. Hurting, alone.]

They had so many years to make up for.

{Claim him!} the Other snarled, jerking forward enough in her mind she physically stumbled a halting step towards Ace.

"Woah, Riyo?" Luffy asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She shook her head at Luffy before she looked right at Ace's small frown.

"I'm going to hug you now. Please don't run. Chasing doesn't end well for either of us."

There was a dual snarl and growl from Ryuko and the Other at the thought of Ace trying to escape their bond.

"Wha--"

Riyo grabbed his bare shoulder, far hotter than the human skin she expected.

The bond lurched from her chest to Ace's, coiling tight between them.

{ [ Ours. ] }

Riyo hissed as she pulled the connection back, bringing it down to a steady stream when it wanted to roar like a waterfall.

She had forgotten the work it took to establish an epsilon bond.

Ace made a startled half-shout; from his sudden loss of balance as she tipped him forward off the rail or from the building bond, she wasn't sure.

She crushed Ace to her chest, her arms squeezing as far around his shoulders as she could when he tried to struggle free.

"Lmph-mph-mphfph."

Riyo didn't really care what he was trying to say. She wasn't letting go until the bond was settled.

It wasn't like she'd permanently damage him from all of the yanking he was doing. He was a logia and she wasn't using haki.

Luffy stepped next to them to place a hand on Riyo's shoulder. She glanced at him. "I'm sorry, Riyo. Ace doesn't like to talk about it but I should have said something. You're my nakama."

"Is this the brother you--"

"Yeah," Luffy cut her off. He smiled at her, not his usual grin but something warm and sincere. "I'm glad you accepted Ace. He's kind of dumb. He needs the reminder sometimes and I'm not always there to do it."

"Mphrmph. Fumph-bphmf omph ophmph. Ampshpm!"

Riyo was fairly sure Ace was putting his pirate vocabulary to use there.

Riyo clenched her eyes shut and sucked in a steadying breath as the bond finally settled into place. She could feel Ace's buzz of confusion and anger. Even deeper was the stunned disbelief. As if he didn't deserve the affection.

As if she would take it back once she knew his secret.

Riyo let go of Ace. He stumbled back from her and promptly lit himself on fire. A normally solid defense, she was sure. Too bad he lacked one important fact the rest of the Straw Hats were already starting to realize...

"What the heck is wrong with you? You don't smother random people you meet!"

...Riyo wasn't normal.

"Pretty heater!"

She jumped forward and pressed her hand to Ace's chest. Her scales instantly surged up.

"Gah! You're going to burn yourself!"

"So cool!"

"Amazing, Riyo!"

What she imagined made Chopper and Luffy shout in tandem with Ace's startled warning was the color.

Her scales were their true color in Ace's fire. Sea queens were the most beautiful in the heat of their home, and they tended to live near or on underwater volcanos and vents-which was saying something on the Grand Line.

Something had to be toasty to get the same effect on land.

In Ace's fire her scales shed their usual skintone. They slid right past the dull black armor color--in truth a deep purple, but most couldn't tell. They even flashed past their standard signal colors and her usual matte blue, purple, and pink shading in her changed form.

Each scale in direct contact with Ace's fire turned a brilliant opalescent rainbow of blues, purples, greens, yellows, pinks, and oranges with the constant deep purple undertone for a base. They caught the light of Ace's own fire and the bright sunlight outside to shimmer, sparkle, and dance with color.

Riyo stepped closer to Ace, mindful of Nami's dress because she was not going to try to guess the interest and damages the navigator would charge her if she lit it on fire, and pressed her other hand next to the first. She was mesmerized when her fingers seemed to sink into his skin, fire licking at the edges where she pressed.

Ace was frozen with shock.

"What are you?" he finally got out. His flaming hand reached up to hold onto her forearm. The scales there turned the same brilliant shade as those around her hands and wrists. "What did you do?"

This time he glared, the words stronger as the anger took precedence. The hand on her arm flexed, squeezing tight enough it would have broken anyone else's bones.

"I can feel it like a tether in my chest."

Riyo met his quite literally blazing eyes with an even gaze. "Good. You have haki." She sighed and dropped her free hand. Ace hadn't let go of the other yet. "It's not a tether, it's a bond. I was a bit rusty on epsilon bonds and had to slow it down. The weight in your chest, the foreign emotions you feel, are real." Riyo smiled at him. Those hard eyes looked a little too vulnerable. Anger was easier than weakness, she knew. "They connect you to me."

"Why?" he snapped, equal parts angry and...embarrassed?

She wouldn't have any of that nonsense.

"Because you've been mine since the day you were born, Portgas D. Ace, and now I'm making it official."

He dropped her arm as if it had somehow burned him and opened his mouth to say something scathing, she was sure.

"No, the bond can't be broken unless one of us dies. No, I am not changing my mind even if that wasn't the case. No, I don't care what you think I don't know about you. I know all that I need to and your blood means nothing to me."

She grinned evilly at his sudden dropped jaw.

He spun to look at Luffy. "Lu-"

Luffy crossed his arms and shook his head. "Nuh uh. I wouldn't ever hurt you like that Ace. You're being dumb again."

Ace stalked over to Luffy and smacked his brother with a fist in the back of the head. Riyo noticed the flames were almost entirely gone from Ace's body.

"That's for both times you called me dumb, rubber brains! I'm your older brother, show some respect!"

Riyo laughed, drawing Ace's glower to her.

She clapped her hands. "Next issue. You stink like the pineapple."

The whole crew gave her a lost look, but Ace crossed his arms and stared her down.

"How do you know that? How do you know him at all?"

Riyo smiled at Ace, way too pleased to see him tense when she showed too many teeth. "I see the pigeon doesn't like to talk about me. Another tick on my shit list for him the next time I visit."

"Visit?" Ace parroted.

Riyo ignored the implied question to walk over to Ace. He didn't move away, although he stayed battle-tense.

She grabbed his face in her hands, shoved his cheeks together to stare at him with fishlips because she could, then yanked him down to rub each of her cheeks against his before swiping them across his chest as he tried to pull away.

"Excuse me!" He slapped at her hands. "Stop that, woman!"

He was so warm. There were many naps in their future. Yes, there were many naps to be had on her new heater epsilon.

She took a sniff. "Better, but it'll only last a few weeks." Riyo crossed her own arms this time and stared at Ace deadpan. "Tell that flaming excuse for a party trick the next time you see him that if he breaks your heart I'm eating his. I mean it."

"Breaks my hea--" Ace started.

"Oh come on!" Usopp cut him off. "What does it take to get in on this? I don't want to be eaten…" the sniper sobbed.

Ace stared at Usopp. Then a grinning Luffy who had been laughing his ass off since Ace hit him. And then the rest of the smirking and outright smiling crew.

Ace looked so done with this entire conversation Riyo nearly hugged him.

He was adorable.

Ace closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Lu, what the heck is going on?"

Riyo grinned. "You're ours now, Ace. Our Epsilon."

"Yes, you said--that…" Ace finished slowly, a dawning horror on his face as he stopped rubbing at his migraine (although Riyo knew a logia couldn't actually get one) before opening his eyes to look at her.

Riyo smirked, letting her scales fade into place across her chest and arms. She wiggled her fingers at him much as she had Smoker.

The irony of mocking both a marine and pirate commander the same way in one day was not lost on her.

Ace was starting to look paler as he stared at her scales. Riyo had the gleeful suspicion the Old Man kept his sons and daughters up on the old ways.

"The Old Man is still your Pops, Ace, and I know why you call him your father. He's a good man. But you fall into my protection, too. If I had known...if things had been different for us both who knows what could have changed. Maybe everything, maybe nothing, but there's no use crying about it at this point." She watched Ace for any small tells as she monitored the maelstrom of emotion across their bond. That was a hell of a chip on his shoulder. "You're no more your blood than I am, Ace," she said. "Your blood does not define the person you are," she said again, because he needed to hear it, and she would keep saying it as many times as it took for him to believe it.

He gave her a baleful look.

Riyo ignored it to face Ace. She straightened to her full height, for the first time using the traditional ceremony of binding for a new member of her pit.

She pressed the clawed tips of her right hand over her primary heart. "I've known you, Portgas D. Ace, and now I bind you." She moved her fingers from her heart to press them to her forehead. "I've watched you, Portgas D. Ace, and now I mark you as pit." She dropped her hand. "Known, watched, marked, and bound. In all ways, until death parts our ways, my Epsilon, Portgas D. Ace."

Knowing Whitebeard and Marco, and based on Ace's earlier reaction to the word, she could guess he knew what it meant.

She was right.

Ace dropped the backpack from his shoulder, his eyes comically wide and face pale.

He bowed formally to her, hands at his sides. He spoke to the deck. "My loyalty and protection to you, queen. To be known, watched, marked, and bound is an honor. In all ways, until death part our ways, may this claim stand true." He stumbled over the words slightly, likely dredging up old lessons and stories, but pulled it off admirably.

She smiled, some part of her preening and pleased to give and receive the traditional words of binding. "The honor is our own. My centuries three to you, epsilon."

Ace jolted up from his bow.

Riyo shrugged at his gaping mouth. "Figured the Old Man was kind enough to continue teaching my people's culture, I can share my age."

A sea queen's age was notoriously protected, only to be shared with the closest family and pit. Ace was aware of the taboo.

In the wrong hands and someone with the right knowledge--like the Old Man--key weaknesses could be used against her. At somewhere between three and four centuries she was only in the equivalent of her early to mid twenties for a human. She had outgrown many achilles heels, but she was still susceptible to the cold and her scales could still be pierced by a devastating enough force and will.

Her blood would not thicken to ward against the strength-sapping chill until she was over 500, and her scales wouldn't become impenetrable until somewhere in her seventh to eighth century--which wasn't completely unheard of considering they naturally lived over a millennium.

Ace bowed again to her, almost perfunctory, as if his brain defaulted to the action with no other ideas to use. "Thank you."

Ace watched her for a second longer before he abruptly spun away, sweeping over to grab Luffy by his vest and dragging the boy bodily over to an empty spot of deck.

Riyo grinned wider. "He's my Alpha," she called after the two.

Ace froze before he continued walking.

Riyo could still hear most of the muttered words.

"Seas damned--rubber-brained idiot--I leave you alone and this is--only you, Luffy."

Riyo didn't need to strain to pick up Luffy's response.

"Shishishi! Riyo likes you! She tried to eat most everyone else at first!"

The response to that was an inarticulate combination of a somewhat hysterical snort and a pained snarl.

Riyo was officially calling today a win when she got a Whitebeard division commander to snorl.

#FFFFFFFFF#

Ace left not too long after his fruitless conversation with Luffy.

Telling Luffy to slow down and think and be safe was asking a flower to stop blooming or a tree to stop growing. It went against the natural order.

She watched Ace give Luffy his vivre card. Not that her captain realized what the card meant.

Riyo knew how expensive and time consuming they were to make. It was unlikely Ace had one made arbitrarily on the off chance he found Luffy. No, Ace had purposefully tracked down Luffy to deliver the vivre card because the Whitebeard pirate was on a mission with a high chance to get himself killed.

Riyo didn't like that. She had only found Ace today. She had twenty years to make up for and that stupid pyro was going to damn well live for her to make it up.

[Selfish.]

Yes. She was.

Ace made to leave, ready to take care of the marine ships heading towards the Merry.

Riyo stopped him with a question. "What are you actually doing in Paradise, Ace?"

The pirate was crouched on the railing, ready to drop onto his skiff. He watched Riyo from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat.

"I'm looking for someone. He killed a crewmate for his devil fruit and fled."

Riyo felt her eyes change as her claws slid out and dug into the railing.

"He killed crew? For power?"

Ace nodded at her.

"I made a promise to Luffy," she started, "that I would pretend to have a devil fruit as long as possible. Unless someone on the crew would die by my inaction, I would willingly chain myself for my Alpha. If this someone is in Paradise hiding I want to know who it is. I want to keep the crew clear or I will be far too tempted to test that promise."

Ace eyed her. "He goes by Blackbeard now. His name is Marshall D. Teach."

Riyo's claws spasmed and crushed the chunk of railing under hand to splinters. The split second wave of killing intent swept across the deck.

She held up a hand at the sound of dress shoes and swords but didn't look away from Ace.

"I'm fine. I'm in control. Startled for a moment but I'm good."

The chef and swordsman relaxed marginally but didn't go far.

"You know him?" Ace asked.

"I would have happily ripped off his head, fed his corpse to the sea kings on the calm belt, and punted his skull across the Red Line if I knew he was still alive, let alone on the Old Man's crew. I've met him. Didn't kill him only because my old Alpha stopped me. Then didn't kill him again once I heard where Red got his scar because I wasn't sane enough to focus that long. I figured the coward would have been dead by now from his own arrogance but the Old Man is getting soft. Teach is dangerous, Ace. More so if he has a fruit."

"I've heard every warning, believe me, but Teach was in my division. The man he killed was a friend. It's my responsibility, and I won't let him get away with it."

That mulish look was all too familiar. Roger never did back down from a fight, no matter the odds.

Riyo knew she was largely a stranger to Ace. Any warnings she gave him would mean nothing. Only time and her actions would change his view on her, but time was something she didn't have. She settled for the next best thing.

Blunt honesty.

"You're under my protection, Ace. You think you know what that means, but I can ensure you whatever you've heard has been vastly under embellished." She felt the ping of disbelief across the bond. "No. Those stories were from long ago, with sea queens that were more or less sane." She flashed her teeth, not trying to hide what she was. "I don't remember what having a whole mind feels like. You can't live for decades in pieces and parts and not change. Whatever you've heard, I will do it and more. So much more." She paused to look at him, to tell him without words how serious she was. "Be safe, Ace, or I will protect you."

Ace smiled at her. That damned D smile.

She hated that smile, sometimes. That smile was beautiful and heartbreaking and holy shit, Ace knew there was a high, high chance that he was going to die if he kept going after Blackbeard.

Then Ace was leaping over the edge of the Merry to land on his skiff and fire was shooting through the marine ships. They shattered with destructive force before Portgas D. Ace was gone.

He never verbally answered her.

If possible she hated that smile a little more.

Ace may not understand what it meant to be hers. The same way Luffy and Zoro and Nami and Chopper didn't understand.

They thought they did. After Vivi, everyone on the crew thought they understood the potential.

Everyone always thought they understood her claim until it was put to the test--and it was always tested.

The line was always pushed because the world was dangerous and arrogant and people were drunk on their own tea cup of power and they thought they could take what she would not give.

Then they all realized the human form a sea queen chose was only that: a form. An easy role to embrace.

When they pushed, and Riyo did not bend, the role fell away.

Riyo would not let any of them go.

She absently listened to Usopp chastise her for breaking the railing while she watched Ace disappear on the horizon.

Riyo would make Whitebeard's protective streak look like a child's tantrum the moment someone tried to take what was hers.

#FFFFFFFFF#

After the roller coaster with Ace, it was almost child's play for Riyo to watch a warlord topple.

It was not easy, or glamorous. War never was. But Riyo was viciously satisfied to watch Crocodile's plans crumble.

She did not enjoy being relegated to backup by Chopper, doctor's orders, when her need for water became a real issue. She was forced to stay with Sanji for most of the fun part.

Smoker's face when he realized Luffy had commanded Zoro save the marine too somewhat made up for it.

#FFFFFFFFF#

In the few days of safety they had in Vivi's home, Riyo made note of every wound on her pit and crew. Particularly Luffy.

Crocodile would be going to Impel Down courtesy of the royal family.

Riyo would find him one way or another, even if she had to break into the prison, and repay him for leaving Luffy for dead in the desert. That was saying nothing for the poison pumping through her captain.

#FFFFFFFFF#

They were finally sailing out from Alabasta, all of them proudly displaying their arms for Vivi's speech.

While Miss All Sunday, better known as Nico Robin, hid below deck.

Riyo was torn between being amused by or being resigned to the way Luffy seemed to collect crew members. It really was a toss-up.

The stowaway had built an impressive mask. Everything about her said she was calm, in control, capable, and deadly. Even using her instinct, Riyo could barely scrape past the shield. The woman had built a true shell around the upper layer of her mind and emotions.

Riyo wasn't normal, however. Instinct ran deeper than haki. And Miss All Sunday was an onion. Layers and layers beneath the sharp, crackling skin. Sweet and savory, stinging and burning.

[Sad. Alone. Unwanted. Hunted.]

{Strong. Survival. Smart. Deadly.}

Nico Robin was a broken woman with no place to call home.

The echo of kinship was the reason Riyo didn't say a word about their stowaway until the woman decided to reveal herself.

Then she did.

Displaying her cunning with her speech and her intimidation with her devil fruit, Nico Robin made an entrance.

Hiding the loneliness. Hiding the pain. Hiding the distrust and hatred of the world and the bone-deep weariness.

"Wait!" Nami abruptly turned to her. "Why the hell didn't you say anything? You had to know she was on the ship!"

She shrugged a shoulder at the navigator. "I did." She figured someone would realize it sooner or later.

"What, that's it?" Nami screeched. She pointed at Riyo. "You knew, and you let the freaking assassin woman who was trying to kill us board our ship?" She pointed at Robin as she shouted at Riyo. "You let the assassin woman who has long range devil fruit powers onboard?"

Riyo nodded.

Nami stomped over. Riyo didn't try to stop the redhead shaking her until she saw three Nami's raging in front of her. "What. The hell. Is wrong. With you?"

"Sh-she wah-wah-was lone-lonely." She managed to get out between shakes.

Riyo slipped under Nami's thankfully slack arms at the words and stumbled around a moment getting her balance back. Once Robin was no longer folding sideways in her vision, she made her way over to the woman.

Robin did not move as she got near, and Riyo was impressed with her acting. There was the barest hint of tightening around her eyes, a twitch of muscle to outwardly show her discomfort.

Her emotions were almost scarily neutral. Robin had trained herself to kill with not a single doubt. She had become the assassin in order to live.

It only cemented Riyo's decision.

She closed the final few feet between them.

Robin's breathing was slightly too quick to be calm, although she kept that I-know-30-ways-to-kill-you-right-now-or-maybe-I'm-simply-admiring-the-scenery smile on her face.

Riyo leaned slowly forward. When nothing bloomed from her body to snap her neck, she took one of Robin's hands gently in hers before she placed their faces side by side and rubbed her cheek firmly against Robin's in a claiming.

The bond furled out to join them, and this time Riyo was prepared. She let it roll out smoothly and slowly as she kept hold of Robin's hand.

"Aw, come on!" Usopp wailed. "You take a rival pirate, even if he is Luffy's brother, and then the assassin lady as pit? But Sanji and I are still out? What the hell are the rules here?" Usopp grabbed his hair as he walked agitatedly around the deck. He pointed at her. "Seriously, what are the rules?!"

She glanced at Usopp from the corner of her eye. "She is my Epsilon." That was all the answer there was. She let go of Robin's hand, the bond settled fully.

She pulled back as slowly as she had moved forward.

"Fascinating," Robin whispered, watching them all interact.

It's the first crack in her armor that Riyo has seen. Robin's eyes are a little too wide, her breathing a hair too quick. Shock and surprise bleed through the shell of her emotions before Robin locks them down again.

Layers; all the layers. Nico Robin was still water hiding undertows and raging currents.

Riyo always loved a good puzzle.

"You're an archaeologist," Riyo said instead. "You're looking for the answer to the Void Century, so I'm sure you know almost every sordid detail surrounding it."

Robin stared at her flatly. Riyo made a mental note to never challenge her to poker.

"You're not a stupid or a foolish woman, Robin. You know exactly what I am and what I can do. And probably a lot of sea queen etiquette these heathens lack," she added as an afterthought.

Riyo ignored the indignant shouts and grumbling from the crew.

"You're part of the crew and part of my pit now. You're under our protection. Even if it means protecting you from yourself."

Riyo knew what desperation could do when you finally had someone you thought you could trust; when your heart and mind warred over the pain of experience and the foolish hope you couldn't crush beneath reality.

Riyo knew how much it could tear you up and drive you to the edge. Adding suicidal tendencies into that mix wasn't going to end well for anybody; Robin wasn't fooling Riyo about what happened in the poneglyph room with Luffy and Crocodile.

Things would get worse before they got better.

"I don't let go of what's mine, Nico Robin. Luffy even less."

"Yeah, you're my nakama now, Robin! Riyo didn't even try to eat you! That's two in one day!"

"What." Robin said, focusing on Luffy.

Definitely a demand, not a question.

"Shishishishi, Riyo usually tries to eat anyone new on the crew. She didn't even snap at you!"

Riyo pressed her fingers to the growing headache at her temple. Unlike a certain fire logia, she wasn't being dramatic.

Why was Riyo's aversion to touching people she didn't take as her own a running thing with Luffy? Of everything he could possibly focus on?

"I didn't try to eat everyone, Luffy. I only snap at people who aren't pit or who annoy me. I was healing anyway for most of them. It was the Other and Ryuko in control at the time. I don't eat people," she emphasized--then thought better of it. "At least not anymore. Usually."

"Why?" Usopp groaned, heading to the galley. "Why do you say these things?"

Riyo shrugged.

It was the truth--and, if she was being honest, she loved watching Usopp's reactions.

She was a bitch, wasn't she?

"Fascinating," Robin says again, a little louder, as she watches them.

Yeah, Riyo was going to get along fine with her new epsilon.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13 - Fraying

Updated: 01/2018

Published 01/2017

AN: A lot happening here as I'm trying to push us forward to Enies, Sabaody, and Marineford. I have SO many plans for those arcs. This fic has consumed my brain, but damn work has been making me be an adult and cutting into writing time; I'm getting these out quick as I can. Thank you to all of the faves, follows, and reviews! They keep me going! Here's to 2018!

#o0o#

Riyo learned in the next week that Robin picked up a lot more than most from any conversation or interaction, no matter how innocuous or absurd.

The tiniest tells given through gesture and expression and what was spoken or left unanswered were collected, deconstructed, studied, and classified. Riyo could practically see Robin's wonderful mind notating each of them in a mental profile; Robin's personal playbooks for later use as she saw fit.

It was an impressive skill both terrifying and a little, tiny bit endearing. The woman was a master of her craft. Those skills had been cultivated solely to defend herself as a child, teen, and now as an adult when no one else could or would, but they were no less for the cause of their creation.

Riyo's hand tightened on the worn grip in her palm as she threw her fishing line out with a whip of her arm.

"Hey, watch it!" Usopp shouted behind her.

Riyo didn't even look back. The sniper had been tinkering with a pile of gears and wires on the deck all afternoon. She knew he hadn't moved.

"The line was three feet over your head, longnose!"

[Chew Toy?]

"No," Riyo sighed at Ryuko. The beast was bored and had been trying to stir up trouble all day. "We are not referring to Luffy's crew as food."

[Toy, not food. Fun. Human would live.]

The Other snorted. The fact it acknowledged the stupidity of the statement at all showed how bored it was as well.

Riyo tipped her head back to stare at the sky because even she got exasperated with her own head.

"No."

Usopp grumbled something unflattering behind them. She ignored him.

Thinking of Robin, Riyo could feel the assassin-historian's gaze on her. Robin was lounging beneath an umbrella a few feet away with a book in her hand. It looked like a light medical text, so probably something she borrowed from Chopper. Riyo wasn't the only one who had noticed it covered the mapping of key pressure points and the main arteries in the human body if Zoro's scowl as he walked by earlier for his daily nap on the aft deck was any indication.

For all she watching Riyo, because Riyo knew she had been, Robin had yet to say anything beyond the most basic social niceties when living in close quarters. Everyone had learned to mostly ignore Riyo's arguments with herself-and it was comforting to know the crew wouldn't judge her no matter how weird those conversations got-but Robin was new. Robin was a historian and knew Riyo was a sea queen. Robin should be first in line for the questions, the least of which was Riyo's random verbal commentary she had fallen into on the Merry around the crew.

It was actually a bit worrying. Riyo could feel Robin's curiosity periodically across the bond-a pit bond whose curiosity was strong enough to pluck the connection between them, that had been new for Riyo-but Robin never said a word.

Riyo knew why. She had figured it out a day or two into Robin slotting herself into life on the crew; it was the ease she did it with that tipped Riyo off, actually. All of Robin's interactions with the entire crew were superficial; they were taken right from those playbooks and twisted to make it seem Robin was investing more than the woman was actually giving.

Riyo wasn't sure if knowing the cause made the restraint on Robin's behalf worse or better. It didn't help the reason was one Riyo could have seen herself using less than a year ago. Such a simple reason, and the cause of so much strife in life: Robin didn't want to get involved with the crew. Robin didn't want to let herself like the crew because Robin had been betrayed so often she didn't know how to trust like that anymore. Alone was better than the ache when Robin had to leave again. Alone was safe.

Riyo would be addressing that sooner rather than later with her epsilon. There was no alone for Robin anymore. Not once Luffy accepted, and certainly not once Riyo claimed her for her own.

Riyo took a deep breath and let some of the tension out on the exhale. The thoughts were only making her general angry mood worse. Riyo was beginning to get the unsettled, edgy sense of confinement under her skin, an itch of irritation between her own personalities and the crew. Riyo had forgotten the chafe she could get being willingly or forcefully restrained to a small space, even if it was with her pit around her. Sea queens were ultimately introverts and singular predators. The constant stimuli, as much as she was coming to love the crew's antics, could still be a bit much. Some days she needed silence and the crushing press of the sea above her head and the endless darkness of the sea floor around her.

It didn't help the Other hadn't made too much of a show, even though Riyo knew it had regained its strength. There was a massive break in the wall; the Other could push at her anytime. A large part of the chafe and tension was waiting for the Other to make its move.

There was an ominous flash of teeth and a rumble of a laugh from the Other.

Riyo really hated herself sometimes.

She sighed and stared down at the soft waves on the water.

There better be some sea king down there. She needed to burn off this energy before she snapped and did something she'd regret.

The sound of Robin turning a page caught in her ear. Riyo focused on Robin's bond, centering herself on the woman's calming influence. Her bond with Robin was the most placid, always still and calm. But there were spikes; it was like a door opening in the dead of winter and letting the heated air spill out into the night, giving you a glimpse of the warmth and light inside before closing as quickly as it opened-leaving nothing but the cold night air again.

Riyo loved the moments Robin let the warmth and light shine across the bond. They were usually displayed by her sense of humor, filling conversational gaps with her gallows comments to shocking effect...mostly for her own amusement.

Those warm spikes were something Riyo hoarded like her brightest treasures. Even if Robin's face was serene while she delivered the lines-and Riyo knew they were lines chosen for their specific effect-Riyo knew the light and warmth behind them. Riyo had glimpses of the real Robin at those times.

Oh, there was also the fact the Other adored Nico Robin.

Riyo still wasn't sure how she felt about that.

{Survivor. Alpha Protector. Mine,} the Other said slowly, as if Riyo were stupid.

"We are aware," Riyo answered as slowly to annoy it.

Yes, Riyo, Ryuko, and the Other knew Robin saved Luffy's life in the desert.

But that would be their own little secret.

A life debt to a Yonko and now someone known as the Devil. Riyo's life since meeting Monkey D. Luffy was certainly getting interesting.

As Riyo was contemplating options for those debts her fishing line snapped taut. It was so fast she was thankful she had been standing on the deck and leaning with her elbows on the railing; she had to brace the pole against the railing and yank back with both hands.

It took a considerable amount of her strength in her human form to pull against the weight of the unfortunate sea life that decided to take the bait. She grinned in anticipation.

After some struggle that brought most of the crew over to watch, a massive sea king surfaced...and kept surfacing. It was easily twice the size of the Merry.

There were startled shouts and yells.

"Impressive," Robin said next to her. The assassin hadn't moved from her spot, only tipped her book back to see.

Riyo grinned at Robin before looking at the enraged sea king.

"You're about to have a really bad day," Riyo stated to its ugly mashup of a fish-feline-snake face.

It snarled at her, opening its mouth to display fangs as long as her whole body.

Her claws slid out in anticipation.

"Luffy, I got you a snack!" she yelled over her shoulder at the bouncing-literally-captain.

"Shishishishishi! Awesome!"

#o0o#

Mock Town was a mess.

It was an all-out, drunken, brawling mess.

They ducked bottles, swords, and bar fights spilling into the street every few steps and they were only a few dozen yards into town.

The sheer testosterone floating on the air was making Riyo nauseous. It was fast making her want to raze the entire town to the ground, especially after biting her tongue with the asshole at the hotel.

She was still in a bit of a foul mood.

A scraggly pirate, more liquor than brains, cat-called at Nami as they came near.

"He-ey, pr'ty lahdee, nie-sh ti-"

The man was knocked unconscious, thrown in a pile of putrid garbage in a small alley to their right, and Riyo was back to shadowing her Theta before Nami even had the chance to pick more than the heckler's hair color out.

[My Theta,] Ryuko snarled in their mind.

"Mine," Riyo mumbled to herself. Her eyes never stopped darting around the crowded street for the next threat, which meant she couldn't miss Zoro's frown at her over his shoulder.

Zoro and Luffy were walking ahead of Nami and her, the swordsman keeping the rubber ball of energy from running after every shiny thing his attention span could flit towards. It was a lot of things.

"You two fine?"

Nami waved him off. Riyo could feel Nami's studied resignation over their bond. Riyo hated the fact her Theta was so used to being objectified. Nami had learned to turn it into a weapon, in much the same way Riyo used her own size and appearance as a facade, but that did not make it any more acceptable to Riyo.

Nami was a person, her Theta, their navigator, Luffy's nakama. Theirs.

Riyo smiled, tight-lipped and blade sharp, at Zoro. Too edgy to think to not do it, Riyo pushed the protective anger and righteous fury at the town bubbling in her chest across her bond to Zoro.

The swordsman's stride barely faltered as he glanced back at her. He felt her push.

The bond didn't go two ways.

The bond was never designed to go two ways.

Bonds were meant only for a sea queen to monitor her pit. They weren't telepathic or empathic-Riyo had already screwed that up-and they sure as hell didn't go two ways. The push was only instinctive because it was what she would do with another-

[DEAD.]

Riyo snapped out a hand to grab Nami's shoulder as her knees collapsed.

[Deaddeaddead-all dead. Dying. Screaming-]

{Quiet, animal! Fool!}

The Other shoved at Ryuko, which meant it shoved at Riyo. Riyo shoved back and for a moment the Other fought, testing her will against its own, before it slowly subsided.

Ryuko was left a keening mess of emotion and memories and dragging Riyo down with it if she didn't untangle herself from the beast.

"Dead," Riyo hissed between her teeth. "All dead," she whispered over and over. She mentally reached in and tugged herself away from Ryuko; she forced it away into its box to calm down. She couldn't catch a full breath until the door was shut on the memories playing through Ryuko's mind.

"Riyo, are you okay?"

Riyo felt Nami's hands cupping her face. She wasn't sure how long her Theta had been trying to get her attention.

Some time. People were staring.

Riyo focused on Nami's worried face inches from her own. She nodded slowly at her Theta.

"Yeah. Moment. Shouldn't've been able to do it."

"Do what, Riyo?" Nami asked. Quiet. Too kind. Such a good Theta.

"I want a hug."

Nami didn't ask anymore. She curled Riyo into her arms and held her tight. Riyo breathed in the smell of ink and metal and tangerines. Neither of them cared who saw them. Alpha and Beta were there. They'd keep them safe. Was what Alpha's and Beta's were for.

After a few seconds, Riyo felt balanced enough to pull back from Nami.

"Thanks," she muttered.

She stood up and felt Luffy grab her hand to help her; she saw Zoro do the same for Nami, giving her a hand to her feet like a real gentleman.

She should give Zoro shit for that later in front of Sanji.

Her thoughts still felt all floaty.

"You okay now, Riyo?" Luffy asked with a small frown. Concern. Worry. Love. Such a good Alpha.

She nodded. "Yeah. Figured out another impossibility for the bonds is all."

Zoro frowned. "What you did with me?"

"I shouldn't have been able to do that," she trailed off uncertainly. Then, because this was her pit and she wasn't alone anymore, "It brought up some memories I'd rather forget. Other and Ryuko get a little messed up when that happens. Have to separate us all to cool down."

Luffy's frown deepened for a moment. Nami and Zoro, mostly Nami, looked concerned but understanding.

"That's okay, Riyo!" Luffy said out of the blue. His frown was gone. "We'll make some new happy memories for you, and then you guys can all think about those whenever you get sad, and the sad ones won't hurt so much! Let's get to the Sky Island and make new memories for Riyo! Captain's orders!" Luffy said-well, ordered.

Who could argue with that logic?

"Aye, captain," she said softly.

Luffy beamed at her; she was happy to let the memories be chased away in the light of his smile.

#o0o#

They were walking up to the bar when Riyo felt it.

So much for Luffy's attempt at happier memories.

She jerked Luffy and Zoro to a stop a few steps away from the bar door, tight enough her claws sliced partially through the back of their clothes.

"Riyo?"

Nami crowded closer to her side. The navigator placed a hand on her arm.

"He's here," Riyo bit out.

There was a wordless roar, a rushing wave of building higher and higher.

Her hands tightened, her claws biting through cloth, through scale, and into skin.

He was here. Why was he here?

She knew Ace was close to him, but not this close. Not like this.

"Luffy." Riyo's voice was steady, completely at odds with the chaos building in her mind.

The Other decided to make its move.

There was pressure. Pressure riding the building waves as the Other shoved and shoved and shoved against her control.

Riyo bit out a sound of pain. She dropped her hold on Zoro's shirt to tangle the hand in her hair and pull tight, a way to distract and ground herself. The Other receded; regrouping.

{It will break the human. Break the human and take control. Kill the Black hair heart traitor.}

Riyo wanted to. Seas, she wanted to let go and let the Other kill Blackbeard.

She promised her Alpha.

"Al-Luffy," she cut herself off. Caution. Promise. "I need you to throw m-me," she stuttered on another grunt of pain as the Other shoved angrily. Pressure built again; the Other knew what she was doing. "Throw me," she bit out, "through the building."

"What."

Zoro stared at her. The word was a demand, not a question.

Riyo opened her bond to him as she had earlier. She let him into the wave of pain and pressure and rage as the Other seethed. As the Other fought for control.

He grunted at her, his hand spasming on the sword handle he held.

"Throw me. Through. The buildings." Riyo said again to Luffy, hand jerking in her hair as the Other roared.

"Do it," Zoro added.

She yanked on Luffy's vest, bending him impossibly backwards to stare at her with wide eyes when he didn't move immediately. "Throw me through the building. All the buildings. Through a tree. Take down the whole seas-damned forest. I don't. Fucking. Care-but distract me."

Before she did something they were all going to regret. Or the Other did.

If Riyo had to stay here and see her crew interact with that sea king shit chugging blobfish shagging slab of meat bag crunch she would let the Other out and they would break her promise to Luffy.

If Luffy could distract her, could distract Blackbeard and his men, the rat bastard would move on with his day. Teach had no reason to know anything about Luffy or the Strawhats. He had no reason to touch her _pit_.

"What?" Nami snapped at them all. "Luffy you cannot throw-!"

"Please," Riyo bit out, her whole body jerking into Luffy as the Other raged forward again. "I promised," she whispered into her captain's shoulder, closing her eyes to ride out the Other's push against her control.

Riyo opened her eyes in time to catch Luffy's lowered brows and deepening frown.

"Okay."

"Luffy!" Nami yelled. "You don't agree! We're supposed to stay out of-"

But Luffy did agree, and once he set his mind on something it would not be changed. Not in the two seconds Nami had to come up with an argument.

Luffy picked Riyo up with both hands, planted his legs, leaned forward and then arched back, stretching his arms behind his head in a parody of his gum gum rocket.

His arms stretched until Riyo had to kick herself off the wall of the building across the street; she heard a crack-used too much force-as she shot forward.

"Riyo!" Nami shrieked.

Riyo only caught Luffy's face, twisted in concentration, and Zoro's worried frown, as she shot over their heads; Nami was turned with her back to Riyo to chew out Luffy loud enough to draw the attention of most everyone in the street.

So much for staying out of trouble.

Riyo slammed into the bar wall in a tumble of wood and stone. The world was nothing but tumbling colors, splintering wood, startled faces (massive body, dirty black hair, betrayer, hate-destroy-eradicate), tinkling glass, the gagging, overwhelming stench of alcohol, more walls, shattered things, buildings, shocks of light and sounds and shouts, and out into blinding daylight.

The world jerked to a halt with a thundering crack as she collided with something that stubbornly refused to give. A moment filled with ominous creaking and groaning later and the world tilted as the trunk of the massive tree slowly gave under the stress.

Riyo was left sprawled on top of the stump. She realized in the ensuing stillness she had punched halfway through a tree easily half as wide as the Merry's deck.

The world seemed abnormally silent after the ground-shaking thud of a centuries old giant toppling.

Could also be the ringing in her ears as the world shifted and the sky swirled uncomfortably around her.

The Other and Ryuko were as disoriented as her and blessedly silent.

She felt the dark-hated-wrong presence moving further away from her _pit_ after another minute or so, and then away from the bar and out of town.

All she could smell was alcohol. Every movement produced grinding glass and splinters. She was perfectly whole, her scales had taken the force, but the pale blue sundress, one of her own, was in tatters. She was also pretty sure she was more flammable than the tree she was laying on.

She blinked at the spinning clouds.

Worth it.

#o0o#

Riyo managed to refashion the scraps of her dress into a rough approximation of a halter top and skirt. It would cover the necessary bits and keep Nami from lecturing her on acceptable dress codes in public. Again.

She found running water nearby, barely a brook, and washed off the stickiness of the dried alcohol and the clinging wood chips and glass. It didn't erase the smell of the booze soaked into the fabric but she didn't have to feel her scales and skin sticking together and pulling oddly anymore.

She made her way back into the bar by following her own trail of destruction. She whistled as she stepped through the debris. The bar, three more storage buildings behind it, two small trees that were still considerable, and the final giant that stopped her.

Riyo stepped into the main bar room in time to see the same assholes from the hotel-in time for the leader to smash Luffy's head through the bar.

Today was not her day.

She forced herself to stand still; Zoro had already pressed a blade to the man's neck.

"Riyo!" Nami yelped. Nami quickly stepped over the broken bits of glass and wood and latched herself to Riyo's arm. Riyo gave the girl a bemused smile; Nami probably thought she needed restraining.

Theta was adorable; Riyo was pissed enough she could lay out this island with her aura alone.

Luffy stood up, a hand on his hat and the other loose at his side. Riyo could feel the fight gearing up.

"This your backup, Strawhat?"

Luffy glared at the man as Zoro stepped back. "You ready to fight?"

"Fight?" the blond laughed. Riyo didn't need to hear the unhinged edge to know he was a little boy playing at bully, drunk on his own power.

"Luffy, he's not worth it," Nami interrupted. "They can't help us, anyway." The navigator flushed slightly, and Riyo was not happy to see the normally confident woman so cowed. It wasn't hard to guess they had thought Nami a fool for asking about a sky island.

"Not a surprise little boys playing at pirate don't know anything about the sky islands," Riyo said easily. Nami blinked up at her, startled at Riyo's words.

Riyo didn't usually feel the need for verbal battle; she was more an 'actions speak louder than words' kind of person. In this case, she didn't trust herself to use actions. She'd hate to disappoint Luffy with a bloodbath against such weak-willed children because she was having a bad day.

"You another worthless dreamer?" the man who had attacked Luffy turned as he asked the question. When he actually caught sight of her he paused one second before laughing. Laughing so hard he had to lean a hand on the bar, completely ignoring Luffy and Zoro.

Luffy and Zoro let him ignore them. Riyo could see it in Luffy's eyes, Zoro's slight scowl, and feel it across their bonds. This man who laughed at dreams and took people at face value was weak. Someone who could move and breathe but would never live. Winning against someone like that wasn't winning at all; it wasn't even a fight. Using their strength against him would be insulting what they stood for as men and pirates.

Riyo understood the snub; didn't mean she was going to agree with it. Your opponent had to have some form of conscience for non-violence to work. The purpose was lost on people like this. Riyo understood upholding your own honor, but she also subscribed to the age-old pirate code of revenge.

Riyo raised an eyebrow at the man as he finally calmed down. "You insulted my crew. You attacked my captain and mocked my navigator." My pit. My Alpha. My Theta.

He laughed again as he stared at her. "Weak pirates like them make us strong ones look bad!"

Riyo wasn't laughing. "Only real pirates I see are my own crew. I don't recognize you. Do you even have a bounty?"

Riyo was the first to admit the bounty system was a load of sea king shit from the World Government, but it was a convenient point of contention to use.

"I'm Bellamy the Hyena! Bounty of 55,000,000! You consider yourself a pirate, doll, and you don't even know me?"

Riyo felt the Other's pinpoint focus; Ryuko bared its teeth.

The Other hated that pet name. They all hated it almost as much as they hated the marines and the World Government.

Today was really, really not their day.

Bellamy laughed suddenly. "Look at you. Shaking like a leaf. You recognize me now?"

Shaking? Yes. Her hands were fisted, her arms tensed, and her whole body was vibrating.

She was fighting down the Other and Ryuko. She was trying to ignore the itch of her scales. They wanted to rise and harden and flash waves of warning color burning across her skin.

The fool kept talking.

"A stiff wind could blow you over. They keep you out of pity? You must be a good lay for-"

There was a crack of skin on skin.

It wasn't Riyo. Nami had stepped in front of her and wrapped her arms around her in a full body hug. Riyo couldn't break the hold without hurting her Theta. She could only stand, shaking, and watch over Nami's shoulder.

Zoro stood over Bellamy. Zoro had punched Bellamy hard enough to lay him out on the floor.

Luffy stepped up next to Zoro to place a hand on his first mate's shoulder.

"You made Riyo upset. You made Zoro hit you." Luffy emphasized hit as if Bellamy should understand the insult it was. Riyo sure as hell did. "I don't know what you were saying, but I don't like it when someone upsets my nakama." Luffy tugged on Zoro's shoulder. "Let's go."

Zoro fell into line with Luffy without a word. Nami wrapped an arm around Riyo's shoulder and held the closest of Riyo's wrists loosely to lead her over to Luffy.

They had to pass by Bellamy in the process. He was picking himself up off the ground. The whole bar had frozen to watch.

Riyo forced Nami to stop so she could stare down at Bellamy.

Impulsively, she crouched down so they were at eye level. She met his slightly unfocused gaze, fairly certain his jaw was broke.

It wasn't enough.

She let her eyes change. She let the Other and Ryuko peek through them. She let them bleed into the inhumanly slitted pupil, the white breaking into acid green and yellow. She let the tiny scales surface around the delicate skin.

She did not blink as she stared at this man whose world was so small he would try to drag her into the same tiny cell and dare to call it freedom.

She let him see how this could have gone had her pit not interceded.

He froze in much the same way a mouse does before a predator. Mind blank, instincts all consuming.

Too stupid to flee.

Too weak to fight.

A mind so fragile would never understand the breadth of what he had avoided.

[Bite the head off.]

{Devour the body.}

"Watch the mice scurry and flee," Riyo said absently.

Everyone in the bar seemed to be holding their breath. They were all aware at a subconscious level some vast predator had turned its gaze on them. The whim of the beast would decide if they lived...

...but when did that ever stop Luffy?

"Riyo," Luffy said confidently into the silence while grown men cowered in the shadow of something far above them in the food chain, "it's not worth it."

There was an accompanying twinge of authority over her Alpha bond, but this was Luffy and of course the boy did it instinctively; in typical Luffy fashion it was nothing like Roger's quick temper and fiery Will ordering her back and calling her to heel.

Luffy's first flex of the Alpha bond wasn't an order. It wasn't even a request. It was more of a reminder of his Will wrapped in the core of their promise and filtered through concern for her well being and the crew.

Luffy was family calling her home.

Riyo blinked and her eyes were human again. Everyone in the bar collectively exhaled as Riyo stood up, somehow aware the monster had decided they weren't worth the effort. This time.

"Aye, captain," she agreed softly.

She walked out with her pit.

#o0o#

Riyo had been right. Bellamy had no idea of the fate he narrowly avoided.

That he dared attack and rob someone Luffy called friend proved it easily.

Riyo refused to step foot back in Mock Town, but she followed Luffy's trail and lingered at the edge of the trees to watch the show.

Luffy was kind enough to give them all, the town and Bellamy, a one-punch ringer as the mildest souvenir of what could have been this morning in the bar.

#o0o#

Riyo snarled loudly, not caring how it echoed while the crew scrambled to get the modified Merry into place for the Knockout stream.

He wanted Luffy's head. He wanted her Alpha.

Riyo was seconds from diving into the sea to devour Blackbeard alive (they'd sleep happily tonight) when she felt the second of warning.

They rocketed into the air.

At 358 the Knockup was a natural Grandline event that could kill her if it hit. If she was older...maybe.

But she wasn't; she could only hold on with the rest of the crew to the Merry and hope Luffy's luck held for them all.

She did not take her eyes off of Blackbeard. Her instincts were screaming at her to destroy the threat to her pit, her family, even as they shot further up and farther away.

Riyo sent out a blast of danger, warning, threat to Ace across their bond, not caring at the impossibility. It was a tool and she was going to use it. Blackbeard was too dangerous. Riyo would not be able to help Ace while they were in Skypiea.

A moment later she got a confused jumble of shocked, worry, question, urgent back. She only repeated the angry, danger, warning again. Ace was smart, he'd figure it out, but her instinct was telling her something terrible was about to happen. The last time she had the feeling the Roger Pirates were disbanded and Roger was executed a few days later.

There was change coming, for good or bad.

#o0o#

Skypiea was revealing.

Enel, the so-called god, had not been able to detect her presence even with his logia-powered haki once Riyo realized what he was doing.

Riyo had known there was something changed with the pit bonds and her instinct, but she hadn't realized how deep it went. For her to be missed completely, an absence of presence once she ghosted, was a new level of stealth.

Something with the Break, her recent somnum, and her promise to Luffy had changed her. The promise could only be superficial; a binding between herself and her Alpha was more formal than simple words, but not something as deep as how her presence would register to a haki user. This change had happened before the promise. Whether the Break or somnum or something else, she supposed it didn't matter too much. It was what it was and she would use it.

She used the survival game in Skypiea to familiarize herself with the new ability and edge out the limitations of it. So far there weren't many if she chose to actively ghost. Ghosting for sea queens was more than acting and skill, it was something that had a physical and metaphysical reaction. Their scales became similar to a chameleon, playing into natural shades and patterns around them subtly enough to appear human while in less focus. Their aura dimmed, dampening their presence, and they were easily glossed over even by haki users. Their entire mindset altered from predator to a noted presence, neither a threat nor prey. The change happened in that last bit. When Riyo was actively ghosting she was no longer even noted. She had as much presence as a tree or rock.

When she wasn't ghosting she was back to being noted but dismissed. A non-player, weak prey. Riyo was becoming bitterly familiar with the irony of it all.

Even better than her own puzzling but useful new skill was the crew's success. The Strawhats were able to experience their first taste of haki without any permanent damage (only Observation, but there was nothing more frustrating than being unable to hit your target). It was a serious accomplishment considering an introduction to haki in a live battle was really only sink or swim...and most sank like a cadaver-shaped stone at the end.

Riyo had never been electrocuted before. She never wanted to be again. She could feel the shock-burn-pain in an echoing sensation through her bonds every time one of her pit had been hit; it was nothing compared to when Enel hit her directly-and it gave her a good gauge for how much was lost in translation through the bonds. It made it worse, really, to know for certain how much more pain her pit had suffered.

She supposed it was good to know enough direct electricity screwed with her control of her scales and forms. If there had been a picture dial handy they would have made a fortune with Enel's face when she got stuck halfway through her change in a so-ugly-you-can't-look-away kind of way.

The crew were all bruised, sore, and on the extra crispy side, but no one was seriously injured.

Ryuko snickered at the memory of Enel.

{Eaten by a snake smaller than us. Funnier}

 _You were eaten too,_ she snapped back. I _t was to keep an eye on Alpha who thought it was a damn cave, anyway_ _. We all agreed to forget about it._

[Until Theta needs blackmail material on us.]

...damn.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14 - Change

Words: ~8600

Updated: 01/2018

Published: 01/2017

AN: Sorry for the delay on this so here's a long one. On a related note, if the words Intel, Spectre, and Meltdown mean anything to you then you know what my life has been at work for the last month. :)

~o0o~

The crew was back on the Grand Line from Skypiea.

Her bond with Ace was empty static.

Sea queens were specific and finicky about optional pit. An epsilon did not carry the full connection she shared with her core pit but meant giving all the same protection.

Riyo knew she could pass and receive emotion thanks to Ace—guesswork and stubbornness on her part—but it wasn't anything close to the clarity with the others. Riyo did not get constant feedback, only strong emotion or near-death injury.

Riyo was afraid the hothead was too stubborn to recognize when he needed help.

The waves whispered change.

~o0o~

Riyo was splitting. Bits and pieces of the mask floated away.

She had been slipping since before somnum—long before Luffy found her.

Her choice to claim Ace and Robin as epsilon proved the cracks, even if only she knew it.

Now they were face to face with an admiral and his devil fruit and the truth of the slipping was a bitter pill to swallow.

Admiral Kuzan, better known as Aokiji, had tracked down the crew under the guise of monitoring Robin. Staring at the admiral, Riyo's every instinct was screaming it was too much and too soon. They were all too weak.

Riyo was more than weak; she was a fool if she fought a man made of ice after neglecting herself to the point of somnum. Somnum was as demanding as the healing required. Riyo had done nothing to promote her recovery afterward.

Riyo was honest with herself; she knew the lapse was intentional. She took respite in the dream of adventure and freedom with the rookies. Luffy had the gravity of the sun; he pulled them all into his orbit and made it easy to forget the world every time he burned away the darkness.

Riyo was facing her lack of action as she stared down the lazy-eyed admiral. She couldn't avoid the truth when she wanted to—

{KILL; raze-eviscerate-exterminate—}

 _RAGE; hate-scream-destroy—_

[DECOY; distract-hide-mislead—]

the threat before it could touch her pit, and—

She couldn't.

Her mind was being pulled between all the voices inside and she couldn't do a damned thing.

She wasn't strong enough, not without collateral damage to the crew and ship. Tied by Alpha's promise, a fight would end in her own death and the death of the crew if Aokiji went all out.

Her aura or haki could reveal her as a sea queen. It would break her promise and send more marines crashing down on their head—a delayed death sentence for the crew.

Her rational brain knew they were out of options. Ryuko and the Other disagreed.

Riyo was holding onto her promise to Luffy like it was the air she breathed. Every inhale—the affirmation of her words to her Alpha. Every exhale—another moment the weight of the words held against the instincts.

Riyo was so focused on not losing herself outside she didn't realize she had curled into her own mind. She watched the crew interact with Aokiji with a distant sort of horror.

She wasn't in control.

The Straw Hats had no idea. Aokiji was the ideal choice of the three with his lazy justice but that did not make him any less of a danger. He was a navy admiral for a reason.

Riyo gathered all her pit bonds into herself. As if shielding the tether points of the bonds in her mind could stop the admiral from attacking.

It was a backward attempt to protect her pit when she couldn't risk the outright assault all three of them wanted.

With her mental focus on the bonds and all her instincts on overdrive, Riyo left her body open for Ryuko and the Other.

The two personalities did not fight as they surfaced. Not like Riyo had come to expect. There was a wordless truce as the threat took priority over the usual disdain.

Riyo was a co-pilot; she made the decisions but was open to the suggestions and influences of Ryuko and the Other.

A few minutes passed. The atmosphere shifted. Aokiji was no longer humoring the crew. Only Luffy, Zoro, and Robin seemed to notice any change.

The Other and Ryuko surged up and synced with Riyo. It was the first moment of true cooperation between them she could remember since the Break.

Riyo turned her eyes from the bonds to the physical world and froze. A small stutter of breath was the only outward sign of her shock.

The world was ablaze with auras.

The land, plants, people, and sea all around them were a riot of not-color, like a living haze of heat in the air. Invisible but there. The haze darted and flashed like a school of fish across the horizon.

Riyo hadn't seen auras since the Before. She could manipulate her own aura as a weapon or tool. It was one of the first things a hatchling knew. But visualizing auras was a skill earned with age.

It was a mark of distinction for sea queens. It was a rite of passage and a point of pride Riyo had lost when she fell apart. Auras were a part of the sea queen she had locked behind the wall with the Other for the last two decades.

Riyo should never have seen them again.

A garbled sound, something between a laugh and sob, escaped past the knot in her throat. Riyo choked down anything further. Later. She would think about what this meant later.

She focused on the haze surrounding the admiral. Apathy, neutrality. Aokiji was cold as the ice he commanded.

Riyo knew what happened at Ohara. It was one of the last reports she took from the marine spy network she kept in the New World. Ohara was an island genocide buster call with a single survivor: Nico 'Devil Child' Robin.

Ohara had occurred a couple short years after the Break. Riyo didn't remember much from that time, but she did remember the rage at such a loss of life. She remembered the thought of the hatchlings on the island (Robin, alone and weak) who had done nothing to deserve the sentence. All for the poneglyphs the World Government hid out of arrogance and fear.

Riyo knew Robin's past with Aokiji. Riyo knew facts meant little in the reality of surviving such a life-defining event. The emotional scars were stronger than any curt fact or report.

Seeing them together, Riyo knew Robin feared Aokiji. Air sucking, nausea-inducing, mind stopping terror. The reaction seemed to be a Pavlovian response to Aokiji's presence. It was as real to Robin as a punch to the gut. Aokiji was the embodiment of Robin's personal boogeyman, but not the true source of the terror.

Riyo pushed deeper into Robin's bond. She should feel ashamed to be using the bond this way. She was, a little, but Ryuko and the Other had no qualms using any facet of the bonds. A threat, internal or external, would always take precedence over human personal boundaries. In the end, Ryuko and the Other were Riyo, and they all needed to know what to kill to make Robin feel safe again.

They pushed deeper and deeper into the bond with her epsilon. Deeper than an epsilon bond should go, but what should or should not be possible was a footnote for later. Riyo pushed past Robin's fear and dawning despair, past the rushing torrent of childhood traumas, through the backstabbing and betrayals, and into—

There.

The instant fury froze them. Riyo, the Other, and Ryuko snarled at the truth in Robin's core.

Robin feared living. She feared her every moment of happiness razed to nothing but screams, bodies, and ash. Nico Robin feared laughing and loving and seeing it all ripped away. She never wanted to see herself become a burden to those she cared for.

Ryuko's first response was to mourn. A keening cry for an epsilon conditioned by disloyalty and loss.

The beast knew how they hated living every day before old Alpha found them. They hated every day for over twenty years after old Alpha left and until new Alpha arrived.

Riyo felt the cry like a blow. She curled their body against the pain. The heartbreak of the beast's call was a physical ache echoing through her chest. It bounced and grew until Riyo did not know how anyone could miss it.

"Riyo, what's wrong?"

Chopper's voice was distant, cottoned and muted while Riyo pulled in and out of focus between the world, Ryuko, and the Other.

The Other rose, took the pain of the sound and turned it to hate; it tore through the human's body fueled by furor and fury. The Other bellowed and snarled and its outrage burned up its throat in a bugle of revenge—

Human vocal chords contorted against her will. Riyo coughed out a painful snarl-grunt-growl, the sound a too-large lump choking up and out of her throat.

There were small hooves against her thigh. They pressed comfort into the pain and tension.

Confusion and concern all tinged with fear bled over the pit bonds into her mind.

The Other fought.

{It would show the ice-human-threat epsilon was not alone. It would not betray epsilon. It would not abandon epsilon. Epsilon was its and it would not let epsilon go—}

"Riyo. Riyo, you need to breathe."

Theta's voice, tangerines and paper and the sea breeze filling her nose while warm arms wrapped her safe—

Ryuko mourned for their epsilon and the Other wanted to rip out Aokiji's throat for making Robin face the memories.

Aokiji. Aokiji was a marine, a soldier. Soldiers followed orders from the World Government.

Riyo would eradicate the World Government.

Riyo would rip the World Government apart island by island. She would light it all on fire. She would watch it burn and toast marshmallows over the smoldering corpses for epsilon to savor.

In a rush of protective rage, fed by the grief, hate, and revenge of all three personalities in tandem, the bond to Robin pulsed and thickened.

Strands curled out like the seeking, fingerling tendrils of a climbing plant. The strands formed knots and braids and interlocking patterns as the bond drew Robin's essence closer.

Robin flinched away, glancing at Riyo with too-wide eyes before taking a step back.

"Riyo?"

Alpha. Alpha knew. Alpha could feel what they did.

Epsilon would live. She could not leave. They would not let her go.

Riyo snarled at Robin, the sound edged in Ryuko's growl. They were too far gone to care what it sounded like or that Aokiji was watching them.

Riyo-Other-Ryuko pulled. The bond pulsed with a flow of love-home-safe-ours-trust-protect-mine. It was the first time they allowed Robin to feel the emotion. The shock of it left the woman reeling.

They pushed and pushed and the final strands of the bond snapped into place. Riyo felt the new connection solidify at the core of her mind where she hoarded her pit bonds.

Robin was theirs. Forever. As deep and intrinsic to them as her true pit.

Riyo blinked. Ryuko purred.

She let out a long breath and took true control for the first time since they saw Aokiji.

Riyo tilted her head to stare at Luffy's swimming face next to her. Nami was holding her up.

"She's mine, now," Riyo muttered. She was drunk on the new connection. "Its. Theirs. All ours."

The entire crew was within a few feet of Riyo and Nami. Only Robin stood on the outskirts next to them but still back from the admiral.

Luffy seemed to understand immediately going by his smile. Everyone else had a furled frown.

Heh, that rhymed. No, allitere-alloter-

Words.

Riyo felt Aokiji staring at the group from some feet away. She glanced over through Nami's hair.

He had an unreadable expression. His aura was muted and muddled with confusion and impatience and a hair too much of someone considering a puzzle.

Luffy clapped a hand on her shoulder hard enough to draw her attention back to her crew.

"Good." Luffy grinned brighter. "She needed that."

Yes, Robin did. And why couldn't Riyo claim Robin as her pit? Riyo had twisted every other aspect of the bonds. Turning an epsilon bond into a core part of her survival was the least of the sins on her list as a defective sea queen.

"Um, can you explain what just happened?" Chopper piped up.

Riyo dropped a hand on his hat and patted him. He lurched sideways with a startled sound before catching his footing.

Maybe she was still having issues after the new bond.

"S'good thing, fuzzy. Fuzzy cuddle, nice curl heater."

Someone snickered.

"All right." Nami hauled her up straight. "Riyo needs to sober up from whatever the heck she did. Give her some space, people."

Alphas were the embodiment of strength and Will. Betas were the physical shield; Thetas were the emotional. Omegas healed and nurtured the pit. An epsilon was a companion, unnecessary for a sound mind or survival but wanted nonetheless.

Riyo would always want Robin. Perseveringly fragile as a coral reef. Ephemerally dangerous as the most venomous jellyfish. Robin was a kindred spirit in as many ways as the others of her pit.

Riyo was in pieces. Perhaps she needed more than four to suit all the new bits and bobbles inside.

One day Riyo would be able to speak of all the ways they matched. All the small moments and characterizations that led a sea queen to choose her pit.

Not today. Today Riyo's mind was full of tripwires, garrotes, and mines.

Riyo had been clinging to the new bond with Robin like a child with a favored toy. Riyo met Robin's eyes. The woman's gaze was glassy and lost.

The Other's rage, banked in the glow of the new bond, roared into an inferno.

Robin, surrounded by friends who would die for her, and she couldn't pull herself from the past. Isolation was her reality until she met the Straw Hat pirates. Riyo knew how much it hurt.

At the same time, Robin would sooner see herself die than put the crew in danger. Because Robin cared, as much as she had tried to avoid it while sailing with them. Nico Robin cared for the Straw Hat pirates, and Robin would leave them before she saw that care twisted against them and abused. Robin would leave before her care destroyed them.

Riyo pulled herself from Nami's arms, ready to drag Robin into the group much as she had the bond.

Riyo made it a single step towards her.

"Pardon me. I do hate to intrude," Aokiji drawled, "but I'm only here to check on Nico Robin's whereabouts."

Riyo's focus snapped to the admiral.

Poor timing for him. Riyo was in the mood to gouge out Aokiji's eyes and make him eat them like bloody grapes. Then she'd ask how his search was going.

They could cut out his tongue depending on the answer.

[Dangerous.]

{Watch. Wait.}

Riyo wanted to growl at the reminder. Aokiji was the one admiral who could kill her. One of the few still living today who had a chance, anyway. She could count them on one hand.

Riyo had heard the stories of Aokiji's devastating strength. She knew of his ability to freeze the sea that despised him with his power. Standing in his presence she could feel the casual confidence. No one was so calm alone on the Grand Line unless they had earned it.

At her age, cold was the most prominent danger for her. Had she been at full strength, even before the Break, the cold was a threat. Sea queens were born of fire in the deepest trenches on the sea floor. They hardened like a diamond in the volcanic vents and buckled crust. They grew stronger under the weight of the water. Darkness, heat, and poison was their life long before they ever saw the surface.

Give the cold sentience with the weight of an admiral and there were going to be problems when they crossed paths.

Her crew was worse. No haki, no experience, and no concept of the world's dark corners and cruel twists. The Straw Hat's were laughable in New World terms.

Their luck was beyond comprehension. Their stubborn determination and unwavering focus got them a nod.

A nod wouldn't keep them alive.

"Are you really an admiral?"

Riyo whipped her head back to stare at Luffy. She was going to get whiplash from this. She knew it.

"You fell asleep standing up while we were talking. You've been lazy and boring. You've upset Riyo and Robin. Go away before I kick your ass."

Riyo stood there. Blinked.

There was a puff of disbelief from Ryuko followed by a rumble of dark amusement from the Other. Riyo wanted to facepalm.

Seas dammit, Luffy.

"You do not insult Admirals, Luffy."

She glanced up. Everyone was staring at her.

"Oops."

Luffy's scowl didn't move. "I do when he's being a jerk."

She facepalmed.

These wonderful idiots really would be the death of her.

Riyo watched the shift in Aokiji's aura between her fingers. It was a subtle change to a barely discernible hardness in the haze.

"Oh, my." Aokiji frowned at Luffy. "It's rude to judge someone by appearance alone."

Riyo bristled as Aokiji focused on her captain. She wanted to say the same to the admiral.

Luffy didn't catch the threat in the words. Or he did and didn't care. It was Luffy; he had yet to meet a threat he couldn't beat into submission.

Her scales shifted under her purple sun dress. They displayed slow warning bands of deep red, orange, and yellow in a cascade down her torso, hidden by the dark fabric. She could feel the micro shift of muscle and nerves in each wave.

Luffy stuck his tongue out at the admiral.

"I don't like you. Go away."

Riyo finally took notice of her captain's aura.

Riyo fingers spasmed around air. She wanted flesh and bone between her claws. Or her captain's throat.

Luffy was the stupidest, smartest person she knew. She realized in that moment Luffy was very aware of what he was courting taunting the admiral.

He was doing it for the crew. He was going to tank a fight with an admiral to give the rest of them a chance.

The hardness in Aokiji aura thickened, the haze becoming a light fog of warning.

Riyo laughed. It was a rough, bitter chuckle.

"We're so screwed," she muttered too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Aokiji watched her, but after a few seconds the chuckle tapered off. His aura had not lessened at all due to that lapse of decorum.

"The government is still taking you lightly, Straw Hat Luffy. If we leave you to grow you'll be a problem later. Especially with Nico Robin. She'll only use you as she has all the others. She's the only one who walks away from the organizations that take her in. The rest die. Then again, the problem would resolve itself….Hmmm, but I should take care of you before it becomes a bother."

Riyo felt the emotion a second before the attack.

It was too late. Like a cornered animal her epsilon went on the defensive.

It was futile. The admiral was far beyond the crew's skill set. Worse, Riyo knew how hard it was to fight back when you had nothing to live for but misery and memories.

Aokiji's aura pulsed as he fell to ice out of the clutch, reforming whole and healthy from the pile.

Riyo's fingers curled, her fists clenched, and she let out the low growl trickling up. Riyo could feel their eyesight sharpening, the tight cuff of control slipping.

The auras snapped into focus, the layers discernible. Riyo knew her eyes would be a slit pupil surrounded by mottled acid greens. Reptilian. Not human.

[Epsilon. Help epsilon. Protect. Hide.]

{Weak. Stupid human. Stupid beast. Can't protect,} the Other hissed.

The Other shoved at Riyo and Ryuko for control, snarling with ineffectual fury. They had lost more than their hope in those years wandering. Even with somnum, their muscle tone was gone, their skills were rusty, and their senses were dull.

Riyo was complacent; they had lost their New World edge.

She was formidable by birthright and nature. It was no excuse for her willful lapse in training. She had a pit to protect again. She had a purpose and a duty to her new captain and his crew.

It was time she accepted her responsibility. Age did not mean maturity, but it was a hell of an excuse to use at 358.

It was time to stop running.

 _I am weak. We can't beat him and protect the pit._

{Human is a fool. Selfish.}

 _I am,_ she agreed. She failed her pit. _We need to rebuild what we lost. We will train. Grow as strong as before. Stronger._

{Like newborn hatchling. Useless. Pathetic.}

The Other snapped and paced and pushed in her mind. A caged predator. It aimed memories of when they were a hatchling too weak to fight like blades.

Riyo snarled at the Other. She stumbled in their body as she lost control for a moment. A rumble of warning vibrated the air around her from the Other.

Nami noticed. Of course, Theta noticed. Theta would always notice the pain.

"Riyo?"

Theta reached a hand out to them.

Riyo stared at it. Riyo wasn't alone. Not anymore. She wasn't a hatchling, too weak to fight her enemies head on. She wasn't useless. She had a purpose.

She could fight.

[Stop. Stopstopstop. Protect,] Ryuko begged as Riyo and the Other turned memories and words and pain on each other.

The Other shoved forward until it was Ryuko who had to grab their head against the pain. It was Ryuko in control as Riyo and the Other traded blows. It felt like the Other was trying to rip through their skull, far worse than what had happened at Mocktown.

Ryuko snarled out loud, twisting their neck to snap at the Other when it came too close. The Other lunged at them and then there was a full-blown, three-way civil war over the body and mind.

Over three and a half centuries of the good, the bad, and the worst ripped open. Memories were ammunition; barbed arrows and countered defenses between Ryuko and the Other. Riyo threw up her own shields, thrown down and caught in the crossfire between her personalities. She threw her mental punches where she could.

The Other no longer had the wall. The uncontained instincts made Ryuko more prominent.

The two parts jostled Riyo's mind in their battle for dominance. It didn't take long before Riyo was overwhelmed. The Other and Ryuko ripped into each other like rabid dogs, truce long gone.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop..." she muttered over and over and over. The desperate sound of her own voice startled her. She didn't realize she had taken control of her body again.

She crouched down, hands over her ears as she hummed over the sounds of the fight. She dug fingers into her hair hoping the bite of pain would help ground her. She tried to shake the memories away.

Riyo felt Nami place a gentle hand on her shoulder. She leaned into the touch, shoving her face into her Theta's shoulder. She felt a small ball of warmth and hooves press into her back.

If the Other took over it would only stop when Aokiji was dead. Or it was dead—she was dead. Whatever came first. The crew would be collateral damage when it was all done.

If Ryuko took over it would break their promise to Luffy. It would reveal itself as a sea queen and trade itself rather than fight Aokiji to the death.

Riyo knew Luffy wouldn't let them go. It was only a delayed sentence for the crew.

Robin, Luffy, her pit—they had to know they could not win this battle. Rubber turned brittle in the cold. Panicked rabbits screamed as they died. They would all shatter under the weight of the ice.

Riyo nudged Chopper and stood back from Nami. She closed her eyes against the fear and confusion on her Theta's face. She closed out Chopper's frightened voice.

Standing alone Riyo could feel the invisible chains of her promise to her Alpha. She could feel the weight dragging against her.

It was a limit chosen for the good of her family. It was a prison tolerated for them.

Riyo knew the day the chains broke, the day her Alpha opened the door, she would be facing the death of one or more of her pit.

Seeing the potential of that choice today, she wasn't sure what was worse: the cage of words or the loss of control.

The crew knew she was a sea queen. They knew the stories. They had a taste of the Other the day it attacked Vivi. But they hadn't seen her at her full size. They hadn't seen her at the apex of a hunt when she channeled the dark places the other hid.

They hadn't seen her when she was a monster.

Riyo jolted back to reality at the touch of haki brushing over her. Her eyes landed unerringly on Aokiji. The admiral was scanning them all, blanketing the battlefield in his aura.

Riyo hated the feel of someone else's haki and aura in her space when she was this keyed up. It was like a cat having its fur rubbed backward.

Aokiji seemed unsettled by her complete lack of presence; he kept sweeping over her. The void was more telling than a weak signature but she couldn't pretend for his sake. It was nothing or everything if she let her control go an inch right now.

Aokiji turned to face her. His haki focused on her. Riyo was running out of choices.

The crew destroyed every one of the few sensible options she had left.

The selfless idiots rushed at Aokiji in defense of Robin and herself. The older woman stood there as lost and docile as a lamb going to slaughter after her clutch failed.

Riyo tried to warn Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro. She began to shout, but the Other buckled down for control as it threw Ryuko aside in her mind. The warning turned into a pained hiss. Nami hadn't moved. The navigator's arms reached out to wrap around Riyo's shoulders.

Aokiji froze Sanji's leg. Zoro's arm. Luffy's fist.

Riyo lost track of the farce of a fight as the pain rushed across the bonds.

Riyo expected feedback. She didn't expect to feel like she was mule kicked by an iceberg.

Blinded by the feedback, Riyo did not see Aokiji turn.

The jitter of alarm from her instincts was enough to shove Nami out of danger.

The ice surged up her body in a wave of debilitating agony. It was a cold so pure it burned its path up her skin and scales. It crested into prickling misery at her hips.

Aokiji had struck the ground with a fist. He punched a run of ice across the earth, up from her bare feet, to encase her entire lower half.

There was a stalled moment before the pain registered. Then she understood why the monster trio had screamed with a part of a limb frozen.

Her cry was high and piercing, an octave outside human hearing that startled all the animal life around them into silence.

Pain fed into the war inside her head. The weaponized past flayed her mind. The constricting hold of the promise pressurized in her skull.

Of all the admirals, they fucking got the one with ice.

"You aren't like the others," Aokiji's words were clear in the sudden emptiness of her mind. The eerie stillness of the land. "You always have to be cautious."

That was it.

Aokiji turned away.

"You have good friends here, Nico Robin. But it will always be the same."

The admiral ignored Riyo. He discarded her as a threat to dare talk to her epsilon.

Aokiji's aura pulsed with a murky darkness. Lethal.

Riyo forced herself to watch as Aokiji froze her Epsilon solid. She felt distant. Fuzzy. Was this what shock felt like?

Aokiji iced Robin over in a mockery of a comforting embrace.

The feedback from the fresh bond layered over her own body's nerves until her breath felt like jagged shards of glass down her throat. Every inhale brittle.

Riyo screamed, hoarse and human.

She screamed because she could. Because it took everything she was not to let her aura bleed out across the island and pin every sentient creature down in terror. It took everything to tell herself not to give the Other control and watch the blood rain.

Her limbs were blocks of nerveless ice attached to her torso, but she was no stranger to pain. Riyo did not—would not—give in to the Other. She would not stop fighting.

Claws slid out. Dainty ebony at her fingertips, strong enough to tear through sea stone.

She scrabbled against her scales, ripping the ice off in chunks, gouging herself and tearing through her dress. She turned the ankle length into midthigh. She left the tattered ends to the ice as she ripped herself forward out of the cold cage.

On her knees, she clutched the fabric at her chest. Her primary heart thudded against the drop in temperature.

Somehow her scales had repelled the ice around her legs, making it a shell rather than a part of her limbs. The cold still numbed her senses and sent her temperature plummeting, but she had legs.

Good. She could use them to kill Ao—

No. No, can't do that. Too dangerous for the pit.

"Oh, my. I had no idea someone so strong was on the crew," Aokiji deadpanned. "That is a rare devil fruit. I've never seen anything quite like it before. A mythical zoan, perhaps? I apologize, but I'll have to report this news to headquarters. We don't come across your kind very often."

Devil fruit? Riyo would never...oh.

She remembered claws and scales against the ice. She remembered the smooth slide of shifting bone and muscle, but not the same. A parody of her hybrid form, smaller, too long limbs and too many joints. She was not human or sea queen. She was something hidden in plain sight to shatter the shell and remove the hated ice.

Luffy's incandescent anger for the admiral was rippling across the bond. Luffy who wormed his way into her mind and heart, his presence as necessary as heat and the sea. The force of Luffy's Will behind the wave of emotion matched her own fury.

She stilled. The Other stopped fighting.

She explored the Alpha bond again. Yes. She should have expected something like this. It was complex enough they could share the emotions. Somehow Luffy was feeding off Riyo's rage, and her the same with his. They were amplifying the raw emotion from them both.

She set one foot on the ground. She would stand. Ignore the pain. She would put herself between Aokiji and her epsilon.

But the Other was regrouping and Ryuko lay crushed under the memories. The beast's mind had broken beneath the weight, cracked from the strain of the struggle.

[Our kind,] the beast cackled, high pitched and unhinged in the back of her mind. Riyo ushered it into its room. She shut the door on the choked laughter like an unruly toddler. The door would stay shut until it came back to itself. Only Riyo and the Other remained.

The Other was fighting back again. Riyo could not lose control. She wouldn't.

Riyo dug clawed fingers into frozen ground. She let the cold burn against her skin.

The beast had a point. Our kind. What kind? What was Riyo anymore?

"May I ask what is so funny?" Aokiji raised one eyebrow.

"Did you hear the laughing too?" she asked without thinking.

The admiral frowned at her.

"You were laughing. Quite madly, I must say."

"Yes," Riyo grinned. "We do that, sometimes."

The admiral was too close to Robin. Too close to her pit.

Aokiji living was too close.

"It was poor word choice for you, really." She laughed again—

{Slipping. Human sliding away. Broken beast, human weak. It will rise.}

—when she saw Aokiji's aura stir with a fog of unease.

No, not slipping. Couldn't slip when there was nothing to lose slitting Aokiji's throat to watch the snow come out.

"Watch the red flakes fall," she sung. "Stick them in your craw. Catch them on your tongue. Come on, it's all in fun!"

"Riyo?" Nami's soft voice interrupted the song. Theta braved Aokiji's presence to creep closer.

Nami should be nervous.

Riyo was falling off the edge.

She knew this was coming the moment she accepted Luffy as her Alpha. The day she decided to live rather than fade from the world completely.

Timing could have been better, but this was necessary. She had to fall to learn to walk again. They had to become new. They had to learn to be what their pit needed.

She could feel Nami's hand hovering over her shoulder, unsure if touch was welcome. Riyo leaned back to push into Theta's legs. She tried to take what calming comfort she could in the warmth of Theta's skin.

The cold was a clouding, suffocating haze as her mind floated away.

She had Aokiji's full attention. He had about half of hers.

His face did not change but she did not need his body to see the muddled aura. She knew how thrown he was. His gut said threat while she hid in a void of any haki signature.

Riyo hadn't attacked him. Yet. Aokiji could make his report, make it clear she was a danger.

Riyo stood as a shield for her pit. She followed her Alpha. She kept watch at his side. She was the bulwark at his back.

She had done nothing for a bounty—unless Aokiji was the vindictive type. She doubted it. His lazy justice would avoid the paperwork. Aokiji could wonder and report but she would stay hidden in Alpha's shadow, the dagger at his side.

"Give Robin back."

Thinking of Alpha and there he went.

Riyo stood, testing muscles as they groaned against the stiff cold. She shifted on her feet, settled against Theta when the navigator steadied the world with a touch.

Warm.

Riyo didn't expect the lunge of the Other. Her hand clenched in her dress. Fabric shredded. She had forgotten the predator in her mind—

{It jerked, snapped, and sped past human. Its voice rumbled from its chest, "Run, ice man. Pray to hide," it snarled.

It struggled to rise further, rip control from human and—}

Riyo pulled the Other back. She pantomimed her hand clawing at the air before her, catching the Other's head in her mind to retract it back inside. The Other came to heel but it was too late.

Aokiji watched.

"No need to worry. She's still alive."

If epsilon had been dead Aokiji wouldn't have a tongue for speaking. Riyo would have ripped his head from his shoulders, logia or not.

Aokiji's aura hardened, darkened, thickened.

The Other pushed.

Riyo's heart lurched. The Other reared up. Fins, scales, and spikes mantled in a full threat display in her mind.

Death.

"...stay alive if you defrost her, but she's fragile. And she'll—"

Riyo did not lose control.

She gave it to the Other.

~o0o~

It burst into movement as ice man's aura shot through with intent near solid.

Lethal. Dead. Gone.

No epsilon.

It flooded the bonds with warning.

Alpha's shout was in sync with its own.

"—die if as small as a limb breaks."

Ice man underestimated it.

It underestimated Alpha.

Low expectations were the name of the day.

Alpha clutched epsilon away from harm. Alpha had used a burst of something. Not haki, but a step towards it. Learning. Growing. Stronger.

It was staring at ice man's fist.

Ice man's punch stopped. It felt the cold on his skin before it retracted.

In the new not-hybrid form it was chest high on ice man. It tipped its head back. It flashed the blade-sharp teeth ice man would have been shoving his fingers into.

And it had been looking forward to the blood, too.

"My." Aokiji frowned at her. Aura shocked, voice flat. It did not like this ice human that lied to easily. "You are quite persistent over someone who will betray you in the end."

It growled.

As if epsilon enjoyed using and discarding those around her; epsilon was a monument to the strength needed to survive. The choices necessary to live. Epsilon forced herself into a mold until her life was the bruise and callus she required to face each day.

It would keep Nico Robin alive.

"Ice man snack. Promise bound. These are mine you dare to touch!"

Ice man did not stop. He raised one leg, as if to crush it on his way to epsilon.

A low rumble started deep in its chest, a subvocal warning that vibrated the ground around them.

Its teeth dropped further. Scales shimmered into spotty black patches across their body. Its claws lengthened and it began pooling venom.

Ice man wanted to crush epsilon.

He would go through it first.

Ice man kicked. Would have killed her pit.

It took the blow, caught the leg in claws, and did not flinch.

"It carries the weight of words," it seethed. "They are mine to protect," it snarled into ice man's widened eyes.

Ice man would understand. It was stronger. It had fought longer.

Ice man would not live.

It twisted the leg and threw. Forced off balance, ice man had to retreat or fall at their feet.

"It will pluck your eyes to feed the fish and dismember you for the sea kings! It will lay your corpse out for carrion feed!"

"It's back."

It ignored Chew Toy's whimper. It did take notice of the auras. Chew Toy and omega holding epsilon. Alpha was standing at its back.

Ice man caught his footing. He tucked his hands into his pockets and watched it. Assessing. Calculating. Ice man would fight it, remove it in the name of his justice.

It could read it in his stance. It was in his eyes and aura.

It would kill ice man. Slaughter him. It would bathe in his blood for daring to touch what was—

Hers. The pit were hers, theirs, and the Other would lose them if it fought. Riyo knew it would—

Destroy ice man, eradicate his existence—

Protect the pit, from Aokiji, from themselves—

Human is weak of will and mind, weak of body—

The Other was a monster. Her pit would not survive the fallout. They would not live; Riyo would not lose them to her own hate—

Fool! Weak! Useless waste!—

Riyo staggered back a step. She pulled herself through the Other's control. She forced her will over the emotion and shoved the Other down, away—

—it snarled at human, snapped and clawed. It left burning furrows and hot blood on human's mind for daring to cage it.

It would break human. It would crush human beneath its own Will for believing human could separate it.

It was human, it was beast, it was predator and protector, conqueror and ruler and queen—

~o0o~

Riyo snapped into place in her body. Her head pounded, her limbs were weak, but the Other was contained. Riyo had let it go too far.

She glared at Aokiji, who stared back. He seemed to know something was going on, if not what.

That was already too much for an admiral to know.

Riyo forced herself to relax.

"This is your fault," she said, for lack of anything better to say. "I'm going to hear about this for weeks."

She forced a casual pose, hands at her side.

Aokiji blinked.

"The Straw Hats are mine," she added, because that would always be true. "Don't ever dare touch them again. I won't stop the Other from fulfilling the frankly disturbing fantasies it has around killing you."

She could feel the crew retreating. Finally.

Only one presence remained. The stupidest, smartest person she knew. Apparently he'd get his wish.

Alpha.

Luffy's hand rested on her shoulder from behind. It was warm; she didn't realize how cold she still was until then.

Her limbs ached and her temples pounded in tandem with her heartbeats. She wanted to fall into the crushing darkness of the sea, drop the cracking mask, and lose herself in the misery churning in her gut.

Alpha should not be here.

Riyo couldn't stop the thought now.

"Luffy. Luffy, Luffy. We-I. I hurt." Alpha was not safe here. "Ryuko. The Other. Not safe. We—"

"I know." Alpha squeezed her shoulder. "You did good. You all kept your promise. I'll take care of it now."

Luffy looked at Aokiji. Alpha did not take his hand off Riyo's shoulder.

"Duel me one on one, Ow-jiji."

Aokiji tilted his head at Luffy. Looked at her. Aokiji's face was blank, devoid of any trace of emotion as he considered.

Riyo felt torn when she realized she lost the auras when she locked down the Other.

"It's Aokiji. I accept."

Luffy's grip tightened, enough Riyo noticed, before he let go.

"Riyo, go back to the ship. Wait for me. I'll win this while you check on Robin and everyone else for me."

Riyo's scales flared and settled beneath the dress.

Alpha was lying.

"Yes, captain."

Luffy knew he couldn't win.

She backed up one step. Then another.

"You promised."

Luffy had promised to live for her. His life was her life. Luffy was the glue and the sun and the gravity of the crew; the rubber-brained idiot would give everything for them all.

Everything.

Luffy grinned. Impossibly wide.

It did not match his shadowed eyes.

"I always keep my promises."

Riyo abhorred that smile.

She took another step back. If she didn't she was afraid of what she'd do.

"Go."

Captain's-Alpha's-Luffy's order.

Riyo turned and left.

Her Alpha would live for her. Fight for her.

Even if it cost him his life.

~o0o~

Riyo sat on the deck of the Merry, eyes open but unseeing as she followed the signatures of Luffy and Aokiji.

The blow was more breath stealing when she saw it coming.

The burning chill pierced her heart and raced through her veins across the Alpha bond.

Riyo did not try to curb the shuddering roar to match the racing ice or the sharp whine at the end.

Her hearts stuttered.

Beat.

It was done.

"Riyo?!"

"Shit. Luffy."

"What happened?"

"We need a doctor!"

"What's going on?"

The voices rose and fell, a blend of fear and confusion and concern across the deck and over the bonds.

Riyo stood on shaky legs. She was still in the not-quite-hybrid form they had created.

She ensured Aokiji's retreating presence.

She met Zoro's eyes.

She shoved the tangled ball of pain across the Beta bond with the resounding command to keep them safe while she fractured.

He nodded, a bastion of calm in the maelstrom.

She stepped to the edge of Merry's deck and tumbled over the railing. She fell into the sea to the sounds of the crew's voices.

She made a promise to Alpha.

This was not a pain to hide.

~o0o~

Water engulfed her. Sun warmed. Soothing.

The cold was far deeper than skin, scale, and muscle. It had burrowed into her core and nestled into the crevices between the organs.

The burning pain of the cold turned to numbness as she sank.

Her mind and chest felt empty. The ice had frosted all the anger, fear, and self-recrimination and melted away in the salty water until there was only a hole dug through her ribs.

Riyo stared up at the wavering sun filtering through the surface. She watched it dim second by second as her body sank deeper.

She relaxed into the dark comfort of the waves and deeper into the ocean's hold.

The world turned to twilight.

Midnight.

The darkness of the abyss.

She Changed.

Her weight pulled her down as quick as she grew. She settled on the sea floor thousands of meters beneath the surface, her true size for the first time in more than twenty years.

She burrowed into the sand like a frightened hatchling.

She was pathetic.

Her streamlined snout shoveled into the shale and sediment. Her body followed.

In the quiet darkness, buried in the dirt of her home, she could think of shattered pretenses. Under the weight of thousands of meters of water it was safe to think about the melted emotion in her chest.

This form was large enough to swallow the Merry as an afterthought. She could swallow the Red Force and the Moby Dick without a thought. She could make tsunamis large enough to sink islands and crush entire cities under her feet.

She chose to run. She hid away from the surface and buried herself in the sand.

Her pit was a distant blip miles away. She had drifted farther than expected on the currents.

The lack of any reaction to the thought sparked the first emotion since she sank.

Riyo considered the spark of anger, a child seeing an ember for the first time.

She should be angry. She should be angry she was not stronger. Angry she had not tried harder. Angry at Luffy for sacrificing himself. Angry at Robin for not trusting them. Angry at the crew for not knowing the limits.

The spark sputtered, caught, and grew. Riyo's emotion came rushing back like a tidal wave in reverse.

The mask fell away.

Riyo shot up out of the sand and let the pain ring out in a bellow. She fueled the sound with her aura. She let the pent up intent to kill-maim-protect out in a shockwave.

Sea kings fled. Ocean life scattered.

The water was silent. Empty. Lifeless.

She kept roaring. Keening. Screaming. She let the emotion she had restrained bleed out like lancing an infected wound.

Her body coiled over and around and through itself, a knot of muscle, scale, fin, and fury.

The water and silt bubbled and churned around her.

When screaming wasn't enough claws tore into the sea floor. She swiped valleys and trenches into sand and stone. Jaws and teeth tore through boulders. A forming range of underwater mountains bore the brunt of her anger.

During the destruction Ryuko woke enough to reach out for the Sigma. It was instinctive to seek the comfort of the possibility. It was natural to draw on the potential when lost in the fury.

The Other violently turned on the beast. Riyo shoved Ryuko back into the room-cage.

None of them could bear the flash of the maybe-Sigma they received.

He was close. Closer than they had ever imagined or hoped. This one may actually survive the courting.

The Other snarled.

Riyo fractured further.

They did not deserve a Sigma. They did not deserve the potential of one like this.

{Weak.}

Weak, warped, broken.

Riyo was tired.

She stopped fighting. Stopped pretending. She sunk into their mind and let the Other take control. Ryuko howled in the cage.

The Other's rage was far from done. It ripped into the seabed and stone; destruction was the only outlet without blood and bone between its teeth.

With no prey it could hunt, it turned itself to the desolation of the sea floor. It could pretend the rumble of the shattered mountain range was enough to slake the violence.

Riyo could pretend she wasn't a useless relic who never should have survived her birth. She should never have survived her Alpha.

She was something secondhand, the pieces glued back over and over, crooked and chipped. Sea queen shaped, but the parts ground and wore inside.

She was an abomination of her species. An aberration.

She was the only sea queen left in the world and she wasn't even that anymore.

~o0o~

A man was riding a bicycle on the sea.

Aokiji was miles from the island where he had confronted the Straw Hat pirates, but his mind was still on the rookie crew and their unknown zoan user.

He had paid his debt to Garp by sparing the boy's life. He could not ignore the zoan woman.

There was something about her that set him on edge, which was rather hard to do. He had heard or seen her somewhere befo—

There was a distant rumble.

Aokiji stopped pedaling.

Bubbles rose around him. Waves sloshed from some sort of activity far beneath the surface.

The killing intent shot up from the water and straight up his back. His muscles seized. For a moment his mind blanked with the need to flee.

The feeling passed as quickly as it came.

The panic faded, unfocused as it had been.

Aokiji shook his head. He stared down into the water but saw nothing.

Odd. The area was well known for its vibrant sea life.

He rode out the waves as he watched for any hint of the beast behind the intent.

The water settled some time later with nothing to show for it. Aokiji did a final sweep of haki confirming the absence of all sea life as far out as he could reach.

He shrugged and continued pedaling.

~o0o~

Riyo was not sure how long she stayed on the seafloor.

When she finally surfaced it was well past dark. The moon was high. The shadows thrown by the meager light disguised her leaden climb onto the Merry's deck.

Zoro was keeping watch from the deep shadows below the mast.

The first mate and her Beta took in her scales, the dress long gone, and her tangled hair. Riyo had no idea what may have carried over the bonds.

She could hardly bring herself to meet his eyes. She fidgeted before finally glancing at him.

He nodded.

Riyo gathered what dignity she had left and nodded back.

A shield and sword never had to share words to understand their purpose together.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15 - No One Takes Ours

Words: ~2900

Updated: 02/2018

Published: 01/2017

~o0o~

The ghost of Aokiji's attack was fading with distance and time. The Grand Line was still the Grand Line. Storms, weather, currents, and winds did not stop for anyone. Time did not pause. A few days with nothing more exciting than a Paradise storm and some sea kings and the crew was back to normal.

Almost.

Riyo had curled herself in the sun on the aft deck with Zoro. She woke from her nap, sluggish and exhausted from another late night of training.

Zoro was counting out push ups across the deck—the sound was what woke her—balanced in a one-hand handstand on the deck rail.

Riyo was half tempted to walk over and give him a shove, but the thought of it took all the energy she had.

She stayed curled up in her smallest change, tail wrapped tight up to her snout. She let the warmth of the sun on the deck wake her further. The show was about to start.

Every day since she came back from the sea floor she slept in this spot. Every sunrise she laid here to nap, every afternoon she woke for her lunch and show from Sanji, and then she went back to sleep until evening. She hadn't allowed herself to be human around the crew since The Fight with Aokiji. It was its own sort of punishment.

During the night she trained.

She was pushing her body harder and faster than ever before in both human and sea queen form. She used Zoro's weights and exercise regimens on deck while the crew slept, aside from whoever was on watch. Then she changed and dove deep beneath the waves. She hunted sea king, chased schools of fish, and pushed her speed, reflexes, and camouflage to their limits using nothing but instinct.

Alone before Roger and alone after he found her, haki had been her tool. She relied on haki for so long it had become muscle memory, so to speak, to fall back on the skills. It took time and effort to break the habit and embrace her new instinct.

The instinct was a weapon she had never used and opposite in almost every way to her traditional fighting style. For all their camouflage, sea queens had never been silent killers. They were claws-to-throat powerhouses. They could stalk, but when they chose to attack there was never any doubt on what was sinking teeth into skin, scale, or hide.

Riyo had always been the showy muscle. She had been the monster to fear with the Roger pirates. Now Riyo was the smile that hid the blade. She had to choke down her pride and shadow her skill. It was an adjustment. An adjustment she hadn't recognized she needed to make until an admiral stood before her pit and she was bound to inaction by her promise to her Captain and Alpha.

The promise they made to protect that stopped them from protecting.

Riyo realized she was digging her claws deeper and deeper into the deck. She relaxed her forepaws with a grumble. She patted a paw against the marred wood contritely. Merry was already hurting and Riyo wasn't helping.

Zoro finished his set and flipped himself onto the deck. She had taken to keeping the entire crew within sight, of a sorts. She kept a constant low brush of her instinct around the Merry for everyone.

Honestly this was the more reasonable option, if a bit creepy had they known what she was doing. The alternative involved kidnapping her pit, sticking them all in her personal nest, and never letting them more than three feet away again.

Sneak stalking them all with instinct was the more reasonable route.

{No.}

Riyo ignored the Other.

The Other, Ryuko, and herself had come to an odd truce since they came back to the crew. Ryuko and the Other had more freedom and equality in Riyo's mind. In return they all pretended to be civil with each other to maintain the delicate balance. It was holding so far.

Riyo gave it until the next big fight. And there would be one, Aokiji would not let them go that easy.

Riyo cracked open one of the eyes she had closed against the sun to peek around the corner. Sanji timed today perfectly; he got extra vicious when he got a good eyeful.

Nothing like repressed sexual attraction to get a good fight going.

Sanji walked around the corner, tray in hand. He cleared the wall in time to catch what she knew to be Zoro in profile. The swordsman was using his long abandoned shirt to wipe sweat from his eyes. The unintentional pose pulled at the muscle in Zoro's shoulders and threw his abs into relief.

Sanji's jaw clenched, but he didn't stop walking. Riyo would give him that. But it didn't stop her light snort when she saw the blonde flick his eyes greedily across all the golden muscle on display. With Zoro's face hidden there was no one to see the slip but her.

Unless Robin was watching again. The first time Riyo caught an eyeball hidden in the rigging above them it took her a few horrified seconds to recover.

Then Riyo had to take a few more seconds to reconcile the realization that Robin could make any body part appear anywhere.

Any. Part.

She still shivered at the thought.

Riyo couldn't tell Robin to stop growing body parts on the ship. For one, it was damn cool once she got over the initial shock. Two, Riyo appreciated the view as much as the archaeologist. Neither of them were blind, and they were both too old for the swordsman anyway. They appreciated the display as nothing more than eye candy to pass the time.

It was a lot more for the cook.

With Zoro's face hidden, Sanji had a rawness in his gaze Riyo never saw anytime else. She didn't think Sanji realized it himself. As much as he fawned over herself, Robin, and Nami, and really any other woman around, it was an act of rote habit more than sincerity. More sincere in their cases, but still habit.

That raw longing was something entirely different. There was the obvious physical appreciation in the once over, but behind it was a desperate longing for something he knew he could never—should never—have. It burned bright, stronger than a crush but less than anything like love. It was respect, recognition, rivalry, and accord all in one.

It was that promise of what could be that got her. If Sanji allowed it, if Zoro allowed it...that maybe-something if they let it be always hit at Riyo's chest.

The look was gone as quick as she saw it. The cook shook his head and proceeded over to her as normal.

Sanji set the tray down in front of her before turning to Zoro. Without any warning he launched a kick at the first mate's head.

Zoro barely ducked the blow that would have given anyone else a concussion, if not worse.

"What the hell, shit cook!" Zoro dropped his shirt to the deck and glared at Sanji.

Riyo didn't miss the flare of excitement in her beta's eyes. Or the confused buzz of eagerness and anxiety he always seemed to get around Sanji.

Idiots. The both of them. At least it was bound to be a good show today.

"Your ugly face is putting Riyo-chan off her food!"

"How the hell did you pull that one out of your—"

Zoro barely ducked the vicious mule kick.

"Dammit, love cook!"

Sanji launched a barrage of kicks, hands in his pockets and a cigarette between his lips. Impressive.

Zoro grabbed his swords as he stumbled back and got into a ready stance. After training hard enough to put most people to shame. Also impressive.

A sheathed blade took the momentum of the next flurry of shoes and turned it back on the chef.

Riyo dug into lunch, some sort of seafood medley over fried rice with a savory sauce. She poked through it as she watched the two bandy back and forth. Was that the sea king Chopper and Usopp caught yesterday?

Zoro caught a kick to the chest with his crossed blades. He threw the leg back at Sanji. Swords followed close enough to catch a blade of golden hair.

"Moss brain! Watch where you swing those overcompensating toothpicks!"

"Overcompensating! You're one to talk, with your dumb suits and ties!"

"Your rags should be burnt! They'd crawl across the deck to get away if you let them."

Thud-whistle-thud-thud-crack.

Zoro's bond was singing with rivalry, joy, fun, and frustration.

About 90% of the frustration was sexual.

Riyo was about 100% sure he had no clue about that.

They were both going to give her a double heart attack before 400.

[And yet, we picked them.]

Riyo sighed. _Point_.

A kick missed Zoro, hitting the deck hard enough she heard an ominous creak from the planks.

She brushed her tail over the railing in sympathy as she ate the last bit of sea king off her plate. Then she licked it clean. Because it was delicious. And these two were morons.

"You're breaking the ship, shit cook!"

She chased the last of the taste off her snout. Damn, that was good.

"Then stop ducking so I can break your face and do the world a service!"

Riyo fell asleep in the warm sun with a full belly and with the sound of denial's mating call echoing across the deck.

~o0o~

Water 7 was on the horizon.

It had been some decades since Riyo had been to Water 7. The last time was long before she had joined the Roger Pirates. She knew the Oro Jackson had been built here, but she hadn't joined until well into the New World.

Since Aokiji's attack Robin had been distantly polite with the crew, almost as if preparing herself to leave them. If there was any island to escape on, this would be one of them. With so many ships in and out from all walks of life, it would be easy to slip away with a merchant ship for the right price.

Riyo knew what it felt like when you were about to break everything you loved. She knew the fear of letting it break you—or watching it break because of you.

Robin had the look and the feel through their bond of a woman who was out of options.

Something had to give.

~o0o~

Riyo stayed on the ship with Zoro. She was content to laze in the sun while she kept a careful eye on the crew and her pit bonds on the island. Everyone was exploring, cashing in their treasure, and working to find a shipwright for Merry.

Riyo hadn't the heart to tell them all Merry was done. She could feel the ache of it in her own bones, a constant buzz at the farthest range of her senses. It was a white noise of pain and dedication and love. Riyo couldn't crush that hope.

Riyo glanced over the side of the ship when she felt the men sneaking up from the sea side. The group were hardly professionals, but skilled enough they would be able to take most crews.

They hadn't accounted for a Zoro.

Riyo relaxed into her spot of sun. She didn't bother to open her eyes when she heard the meaty thuds of the one-sided fight.

~o0o~

The blast of startled fear and then bitter acceptance from Robin's bond was a blessing and a curse. It was rife with resignation and crushed hope.

Riyo flinched from the chill as Robin closed her mind and then her heart off. Riyo hadn't realized how much the archaeologist had opened up. Despite what happened with Aokiji, Robin had trusted them to some extent.

But when the push came, Robin gave up before she even tried.

Riyo uncurled from her ball to stand on all four feet. She padded over the deck and sat back to put her front paws on the railing. She stared through air, buildings, people, and walls to track the signature of her epsilon in the city.

Going where she should not with dangerous signatures that had her scales vibrating.

Robin thought that was going to be the end of it.

Robin was wrong.

Riyo latched onto the bond anchor to Robin. She shoved the Other's possessive anger, her own fierce pride, and Ryuko's endless devotion down the bond.

She felt Robin's shock and instant denial in response. Robin tried to pull away again.

Riyo sent the same flood of emotion a second time. This time tinged with exasperated care.

The assassin could choke on that if Robin thought she could get away from Riyo.

Robin was Riyo's, Ryuko's, and the Other's. She was Luffy's. Nico Robin was a Straw Hat pirate.

They did not let go.

~o0o~

Kaku. A shipwright and a liar.

He was good. Too good.

A shipwright wouldn't know how to shave and moonwalk across the skyline of Water 7. Those were traditional marine skills. Advanced skills. Kaku made them look like natural talent.

Riyo watched the man deliver the news of Merry's broken keel to Zoro. Riyo had not taken her eyes off the 'shipwright' the entire time he was on board.

He was a liar, but not about this. It was worse than she suspected.

Zoro ignored Kaku to look at her. She could feel the clash of denial and recognition. The Merry had taken much more than she was designed for.

Riyo broke her stare with Kaku's back. The man turned to look at her as well when he realized Zoro was ignoring him.

She met Zoro's eyes and nodded.

Kaku, if that was even his name, watched with an air of detached confusion. His body language belied his bright interest in the exchange.

He left shortly after.

Riyo laid down when he was gone to tuck her snout beneath her tail. Zoro sat back on deck. He stared at the ship with a frown.

Riyo didn't say anything when she saw him put a callused hand against the main mast with a solemn face.

Some time later Riyo realized why Kaku's skills felt too familiar. And why Robin had been so scared.

Fucking Cipher Pol.

~o0o~

When the news came that Robin was gone, Riyo's smile was grim.

Bumps and bruises, electrocution and frostbite, near-death battles, and elite marine spies were all part of letting her human hatchlings grow up, right?

[{No.}]

Yeah, even Riyo's skill in self-delusion couldn't sell that one.

Her pit and her Alpha's crew were their own breed of danger magnets. It was like problems went out of their way to find them. Their bad luck was only tempered by that same good luck following right behind, but not close enough to prevent the chaos between.

Riyo hated being right.

~o0o~

Riyo stood beside Zoro in human form as they all watched Usopp and Luffy battle. Riyo owed the moment this form. The sulking was getting old, anyway.

Chew Toy had more courage and cunning than they had guessed. He had less self-confidence, respect, and faith than they hoped if he disobeyed his captain's order to leave Merry.

Riyo supposed Luffy was the only one who had seen Usopp's potential; Riyo had never guessed the sharpshooter could stay so strong.

Now here they were, the two facing off in brutal battle.

Too bad the revelation of Usopp's courage and commitment came at the cost of splintered friendship.

~o0o~

Riyo stayed out of sight of the rest of any of the Galley-La shipwrights. Cipher Pol came as a group. She had no doubts more of the workers were undercover agents.

Cipher Pol's job was intelligence and the World Government was paranoid to a fault. No matter how much time passed since the last confirmed sea queen sighting, Cipher Pol would have the training to spot her kind...unlike a standard marine. Even an admiral.

Cipher Pol could not know she had survived Roger's death. Riyo's careful truce with Ryuko and the Other wasn't strong enough to risk unnecessary confrontation.

While her pit went after Iceburg, Riyo followed Sanji through the streets. She followed the chef through the growing wind and rain to the train station. In human form, hidden from haki and view, Riyo used claws to dig into the stone of the station and cling to the ceiling like a scaly spider.

She watched the defeated line of Robin's shoulders board with Cipher Pol. She watched Sanji scrawl his message across the platform wall before following. Riyo chanted her promise to Luffy and dug her claws deeper into the ceiling.

She watched as the crew rushed into the station. They were all in time to see the sea train disappear into the waves.

Riyo dropped from the ceiling to the floor in front of the group.

People startled and cursed.

Today's dress was a tight halter top that fell to her ankles. It hid the vibrating scales stretching across her chest and torso and down to her toes.

[No one takes ours.]

{It will not let them.}

Riyo sunk into their collective mind.

Instincts flared as eyesight sharpened.

"No, we will not," she promised.

~o0o~

This is still on hiatus. I just...dammit brain. I don't have time to write AND make a game.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16 - What fight? We're in Agreement.

Words: ~1800

Updated: 04/2018

Published: 01/2017

~o0o~

The next few hours are a blur.

She is a sea of three in one, surfacing and sinking in turns. Personalities curled and clashed as control slipped through Riyo's fingers.

She did not try to stop Ryuko or the Other. She would not deny them.

[Stole epsilon.]

{Dared touch what is its.}

She remembers boarding another sea train in silence.

She remembers Chopper's cursory checkup.

She remembers holding a hand out to Nami for a hug.

She remembers curling herself into her Theta's body, as small as she could be in human form.

 _Cipher Pol stole ours. The World Government took our epsilon._

This retribution would be in their human shape. The government would watch Enies Lobby brought to rubble and scrap by a small human girl and a crew of pirates, shipwrights, and thieves.

Riyo would ensure it even if she had to spill the blood, break the mortar, and light the match herself.

~o0o~

Mother Nature is their first obstacle. The sea, her home, is raging against them.

Riyo is aware of the truce with the strangers around her. She is aware they all try and fail to stop the wave.

Everyone ignores her [avoids them] {fears it} until she steps between a blonde man with ropes and her Beta.

She walks calmly to the front of the train cart.

"No."

She stops. Turns her head to see Alpha behind her.

"Zoro and I will do it, Riyo. If we can't get there on our own power then we can never get Robin back."

She makes a sound, a rumbling chirp of pride for her Alpha.

She felt Beta's humor suddenly.

"You're also scaring the new guys."

Riyo turned around to look at the rest of the car. It was the first time she truly saw them.

They all stare back looking equal turns nervous and defensive.

Omega chose that moment to trot over and stand next to her.

She crouched down to get eye level with him. There is a collective shift, a group flinch at the movement.

Chopper picks up her hand with a concerned frown. He held it up in front of her own face.

"How bad are they fighting? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Their scales are bleeding through the skin of her hand and forearm, darker patterned patches beneath the pale expanse. Inch long ebony claws catch the dim light in the cart.

The scales were subtly tinted orange and red.

Beta and Luffy are heading out the door to deal with the wave, but Riyo knew they were listening.

She already knew her eyes had changed at the station. She realized now her teeth had lengthened as she paced and waited in the car.

She grinned at omega, unrepentant.

Someone gasped. There was more nervous shuffling.

Then Riyo inhaled slowly and sucked it all back in. Completely human once more but for her eyes.

"What fight, Chopper? We're all very much in agreement."

Chopper gulped before nodding slowly. He patted her hand, human fingers and nails and skin, between his hooves in a nervous gesture. She knew it was more for his own comfort.

Riyo went back to her place against the wall and watched out the rain-drenched window as her Alpha and Beta cut through the wave.

~o0o~

Robin chose to leave them again.

For their safety, Robin left them when she was. Right. There.

The pain made Riyo snarl, perched at the edge of the sea train's steaming engine as waves, wind, and rain beat against her skin. They sent a thrumming through her blood and had her hearts beating the ceaseless rhythm.

She wanted to leap into the sea after her epsilon. She wanted to rip the train from the tracks, rip apart the bodies and take epsilon home. She wanted to Change, to show the World Government what they dared to face.

"Not yet."

She held herself taught at the edge. She snarled at the sea. At Cipher Pol. At Luffy. At Robin.

"Not yet, Riyo."

Her Alpha's demand. Her Alpha's plea.

Taking epsilon would not be enough. Epsilon had to come herself or she would always need to leave.

They screamed, a lion's challenge to the world. The sound was swallowed by the raging waves.

She went back inside. Past Alpha. Past Beta. Past Theta and Omega.

It paced.

~o0o~

Chef and Chew Toy were back.

Chew Toy was still hiding. Omega really didn't know, but Alpha knew and fed the story. Alpha really was too good. Too good, too wise, too much.

They snarled at Chew Toy. Grinned machete sharp at his shriek.

Chew Toy was here.

That was worth something.

~o0o~

Chef was different. Changed.

He was talking to Beta, Alpha, and the truce humans. He was explaining what epsilon had done to protect them at the cost of herself.

Riyo could read what he had done to try to save her pit.

Riyo could not smell it, could not feel anything without a bond, but it was in his eyes and in his stance and in the sense of his aura.

There was much more to Chef than she had thought. Memories he repressed, truths he hid, and facts he wished to deny.

He had done more than many for epsilon.

Riyo's instincts were churning, testing him at his own merit as epsilon. They would watch him in this battle, consider him after he was blooded in defense of her pit. He already desired Beta as mate, and now he fought for her own.

Chef could have his secrets, for now.

Riyo may claim them all in the end.

~o0o~

Sunlight.

Gates.

The metal surface ship never stopped.

They held Omega and Theta through the crash, shielded them in human arms armored in inhuman scales through the landing.

Then they stepped from the metal, Omega and Theta safe, Alpha and Beta already free. They watched Alpha go.

They grinned at Theta's worried face.

Watched the worry melt to confidence.

"Give 'em hell, guys."

They followed Alpha into the streets with bloodlust in their veins.

~o0o~

Cocky prey. Confident. Trained. Alert.

Shouts and shots and sprays of hot blood.

Screaming, dying prey. Frightened bodies. Animal fear. Single focused escape.

~o0o~

 _Pain._

It sliced across the bond. Shattered open their ribs. Blew out their heart and lungs and splayed them on the street without a wound to show for it.

Aching body, shattered pride, broken spirit.

Epsilon.

The beast roared. It was a New World hurricane given form, an earthquake of sound from a petite, apoplectic epicenter. Its aura blew out behind the sound, freezing the white-blue prey like frightened fish.

Bricks shook. Windows shattered. Walls cracked. Bodies fell screaming blocks around it as eardrums ruptured and bled.

It stared at the tower. It focused its will on epsilon through the bricks and walls stopping it. It threw its absolute certainty through the bond that whoever had harmed epsilon would _die_.

Slowly.

Painfully.

Permanently.

~o0o~

Epsilon. Pain, anguish, fear. Another shot to the chest.

Canine teeth bit and slid, bullets bounced, swords and knives and maces and fists broke and ended against the human skin that would not break or bleed.

A human shell housing the beast's fury, the Other's rage, and scale not even seastone could cut.

Epsilon. Afraid and alone. _Tortured._ Another knife to twist between the broken ribs and pulsing viscera.

A human guise for the monster's play. Impenetrable armor as it gave into the frenzy to reclaim what was taken.

Its body was whole as it shattered under the pain of their stolen epsilon.

~o0o~

"Sir, we can't stop her-"

"Spandam, sir, they're not human! Strawhat and the girl, we can't-"

"Strawhat's taken out squadrons 8, 10, 2 to 7, 12-"

"She's destroyed all of the barrack buildings! Sir, she's ripping them apart with her bare hands!"

"Strawhat just leveled sectors 1 to 13! We need reinforcements, sir!"

"The girl, she-she just ripped down Watchtower 3 and 10. She tore through the supports, steel supports! She dropped the building on her head and walked out without a scratch! What the hell is she?!"

"Strawhat took out the wolf riders! Strawhat- _gomu gomu_ - _krck_."

"She's a monster! She laughed when the blood...she's covered in...the blood. Oh god, oh god, please-Please, no!- _krck_."

"We can't stop them! Regroup! They've taken the city! REGROUP!"

"RUN!"

~o0o~

3 humans with large ball maces. 3 humans pretending to be one large human.

They nod to Alpha to go ahead. Sandals slap on tile as he runs. One of the ball mace humans swings at Alpha.

They shave. Catch the ball in one hand. No haki to protect the weapon from scale.

The metal slowly cracks from the impact with their palm before falling to pieces and shattering the tile floor.

Alpha is up the stairs.

They grin. They can taste the blood that has dripped down their face and dried tacky on their skin.

"Come hither, hither, pretty fly. Your robes are dressed in color; there's a crest upon your head; Your eyes shine sharp and frightened, but mine are dull as lead." [1]

They laugh, the sound as wild as the Aqua Laguna waves, the effort of it twisting the dull knife of Epsilon's pain in their lungs.

Forward, forward, upward.

Epsilon.

The first fist swings.

Oh, how they love when their prey takes wing.

~o0o~

"Spandam, sir, there have been over 3000 casualties, over 2300 of them from Strawhat and the girl alone!"

"What? No, impossible! Some rookie and little girl cannot cause-"

"Sir, they're not human! I've never seen anything- _grggghhhhh..._ "

"Soldier! Report, dammit! I command you to-"

"Die. [ _Dying, dead, rolling, rotting heads.]_ Commanding the dead will not save your skin. _{Save your air; scream it when it flays the skin from head to toes instead.}_ Especially not once we find you. _Krck._ "

~o0o~

They caught up to Alpha on the roof. Watched him fight the human who stank of devil fruit and Cipher Pol and who crafted doors from air.

They watched new Alpha training. Stronger. Faster. Fighting Cipher Pol and winning.

Winning back epsilon.

The human enemy fell to Alpha.

They set their gaze on the tower.

~o0o~

[1] The Spider and the Fly, Mary Howitt. With a tweak or two of my own. ;)

Well, the mobile game is coming along well, but apparently I cannot stop writing. My brain refuses. So have some updates!


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